20 hours after the devastating earthquake in Iran, the Order of Malta’s German Emergency Corps (Malteser) sent medical supplies and a rescue team to the city of Bam. The December 26 earthquake has left more than 20,000 people dead and about 30,000 injured.

On behalf of the German Federal Foreign Department, Malteser sent Emergency Health Kits containing 1.8 tons of medicaments (sufficient to care for 20,000 people for a period of 3 months) to Bam. The Emergency Health Kits include First Aid packages, medical dressings, antibiotics and analgesics. Malteser’s rescue team, consisting of one physician, two paramedics, three rescue-teams with sniffer-dogs and two technicians, returned to Germany on December 30.

Malteser is investigating the possibility of reconstruction measures to help the injured and homeless, and in early January an assessment team will be sent out to the stricken region.