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UK-Med developed out of the South Manchester Accident Rescue Team (SMART). SMART started life as a local medical team, acting in support of the rescue and ambulance services in Manchester. The SMART team responded to earthquakes in Armenia and Iran, as well as the Kurdish refugee crisis on the Iran/Iraq border. SMART members also attended the Lockerbie air disaster. In the early years of its activity, UK-Med responded to a number of sudden-onset disasters, providing technical advice, specialist surgical and other clinical support. Throughout the siege of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992-1995), UK-Med organised surgical teams to work in the Sarajevo trauma centre, supporting local staff in their management of war injuries. Following the 1995 eruption of the Pico Volcano on the island of Fogo (Cape Verde Islands, 1995) the evacuation onto another island, Sao Vicente, where cholera was present, led to an outbreak. The subsequent cholera epidemic was managed by UK-Med with a core team of volunteers working in rotation in support of the local health services over a nine month period.
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