A Bingley-born volunteer with international aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (medicine without borders) has returned from Pakistan where he has been assisting the survivors of a devastating earthquake.

Simon Midgeley, a clinical psychologist, has been a volunteer with French-based MSF for a year-and-a-half.

During this time he has worked in Colombia, Pakistan, and, next year, is heading to Burma.

Specialising in trauma and post-traumatic stress, Mr Midgeley joined MSF after his work with the refugee population in the UK.

“I had a research background in trauma,” he said. “Working with the refugee population I realised that the levels of trauma experienced by these people was on a whole different scale to what we know here.

“I became aware of MSF but on a personal level a lot of things needed to be set in place before I could commit myself.”

His first posting was to Columbia where he spent 19 months working with the victims of political violence.

Then, in October of this year, a major earthquake struck Balochistan, the south eastern province of Pakistan, killing hundreds and displacing thousands. Mr Midgeley said: “I had seen the earthquake on the news and received a call from MSF the following day – within a week I was in Pakistan.

“I had some idea of how to go about things and of the chaos involved in emergency operations but what surprised me were the aftershocks. The aftershocks actually killed more people than the initial earthquake because a lot of people had made the decision to return to their homes.”

Mr Midgeley, who now lives in Newcastle, said: “We have learned from our mistakes. It’s about finding out what people want and need on a practical level and trying to help.

“It’s not about providing therapy really, we also helped distribute tents, blankets and hygiene kits. In a situation like that everyone is traumatised, in one village they had lost half their children.”