"The people who stayed behind in Swat during the fighting have been under curfew for weeks. They have run out of basic supplies," says Mohamed Sheikh-Ali, the delegate in charge of economic security for the ICRC in Pakistan. "The situation is beginning to improve, but right now these people need assistance, including food, in order to cope." The food packages contain a month's supply of flour, rice, split peas, vegetable oil, sugar, tea and salt.

Mingora has been one of the main flashpoints of the military operation in the Malakand Division. Most people left the area to seek refuge in safer parts of the country. However, tens of thousands stayed behind to guard their property, in the hope of harvesting the wheat crop, or simply because they were unable to leave. They spent weeks without electricity, water, telecommunications and health care.

"The ICRC is the only international humanitarian organization in the area right now, and the needs are considerable,” comments Daniel O'Malley, a delegate who has been based in Mingora for the last two weeks. "We are trying to act as fast as we can, but we need to be able to get our trucks in and out of the district safely if we are to deliver."

The ICRC re-entered Swat on 3 June and has now established a permanent presence in Mingora. It has evacuated casualties to its surgical hospital in Peshawar and is supporting Mingora Hospital and Khwaza Khela Civil Hospital. The organization also helped over 300 families In Swat to get in touch with relatives who had fled the area.