“We had to run for our lives,” he explained. “Nothing like this had ever happened to us, and I didn't know what to do. My family looked to me for their welfare and I had nothing for them. We arrived at the camp empty-handed."

Mr Afsar was relieved to pick up a huge bag of flour and another of rice when the ICRC and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society distributed aid in Buner IDP camp on 20 August. The camp hosts almost 25,000 people who have fled the fighting that has wracked this once-peaceful part of north-west Pakistan in recent months.

With a broad smile, Bakht pointed at the logo of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) on one of the bags and asked Pakistan Red Crescent volunteer Said Faqeer, "Does that mean these bags of food came all the way from Kuwait?"

Said explained that the Kuwait Red Crescent Society had donated the food through the ICRC to help Pakistan's two million displaced persons.

“The crisis has been so sudden and so large-scale that the humanitarian community has had to marshal all its forces to help people cope,” explained Lotte Lauper, the ICRC delegate who handles relations with Red Cross and Red Crescent partners. “The large KRCS donation is a great illustration of the different components of the Movement working together to make a difference."