NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) A medical team of the Japanese Red Cross Society left Narita airport Friday for Pakistan to help treat survivors of flooding there.
The seven-member team will set up a clinic and also travel to distant areas to treat patients during a one-month stay in the country, the Red Cross said. The organization will dispatch medical teams to Pakistan for the next four months to take turns in providing medical care.
"Although we will be working in a harsh environment . . . we would like to contribute to improving the situation for the survivors as much as possible," said team leader Kita Taro, 43, a clinical laboratory technician at Osaka Red Cross Hospital.
The flooding has affected over 17 million people and damaged around 720,000 homes, the Japanese Red Cross said.