The royal couple visited Pattika, a small town in the Neelum valley near the epicentre of the devastating earthquake of 8 October 2005, where they talked to earthquake survivors. The prince is president of the British Red Cross.

In Pattika the couple visited a health-care facility rebuilt by the ICRC after the original buildings had all been destroyed by the earthquake. They also stopped at a secondary school that collapsed, killing over 100 schoolchildren and three teachers and leaving several dozen people injured. In addition, the prince and duchess toured a facility run by the ICRC and the German Red Cross that gives away milking cows – nearly 1,500 this year alone – and visited one of the 30,000 families that had received tools and seed, which are needed by earthquake survivors to regain their ability to provide for themselves. Finally, the royal couple went to an exhibition organized by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society on action taken by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in earthquake-affected areas.

The emergency work of the Pakistan Red Crescent, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the ICRC was supported by funding, staff and supplies generously provided by dozens of National Societies around the world. The British Red Cross – the National Society that has donated the most to the ICRC over the past two years – responded swiftly after the earthquake struck, providing relief items and equipment worth more than five million pounds sterling and dispatching 18 expert staff, including a specialized logistics team.