Newborn girl in Pakistan named “Estonia”

Oct 19. Besides treating the injured, medics of an Estonian rescue team working in quake-hit Pakistan have also helped to deliver babies. Her parents named a newborn baby girl who Estonian medics helped to deliver “ Estonia”.

Meanwhile the chief of the rescue team, Tauno Suurkivi, said the number of victims of the catastrophe is huge and the need for medical aid is growing steadily.

On Sunday medics received almost 1,500 patients and in 200 cases some surgical procedures were needed. This week an ambulance was placed at the disposal of the Estonian field hospital. Patient numbers stayed big in subsequent days, too, and in addition Estonian rescuers drove to a nearby village to clear rubble from collapsed buildings.

Last week the Estonian Rescue Board sent a team of six medics, eight rescuers-logisticians, a liaison officer and a logistics specialist to Pakistan.

The head of the team, Suurkivi, is deputy chief of the rescue service from Western-Viru County.The planned duration of the mission is 12 days. The director general of the Rescue Board, Mati Raidma, went to the crisis area along with the team to start work on the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team. The Estonian

government has allocated more than 1.5 million kroons (EUR 96,000) to cover the costs of the mission. Estonia sent some 50,000 kroons' worth of medicines to Pakistan procured for the Foreign Ministry's budgetary humanitarian relief funds.

From Estonian Review, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Submitted by Helgi Leesment