By Kaj Larsen, Correspondent

Editor's note: Kaj is covering the aftermath of the flooding in Pakistan. Watch his reports on AMERICAN MORNING at 6:00AM Eastern.

We awoke at 0515. Breakfast at 0700. Conducted interviews from 0800 to 0900. Our caravan rolled out to a remote area of southern Punjab at 0930. By 1100 we had set up a remote clinic.

By 1115, our team had saved a life.

Now I use that phrase pretty liberally. It was really Dr. Eduardo Dolhun, the lead physician on Team Rubicon, who saved a life.

I’m currently embedded with Team Rubicon in Pakistan, where I have the privilege of working alongside them while covering the flood disaster for American Morning. It allowed me to see the effects of the natural disaster through a humanitarian lens.

When we arrived at the impromptu clinic, we began to set up our equipment and see the first patients. Almost immediately, a crowd formed. Americans in this part of the world attract a ton of attention, and the people of this area, which had been severely impacted by the floods, were in dire need of medical attention. Even as we made our way to the staging area for delivering medicine, we crossed rivers and washed out homes, and saw hundreds of people living in tents and makeshift shelters along the side of the road. Bottom line, the need was great.

The military members of Team Rubicon fanned out and tried to organize the crowd while Dolhun and another Rubicon paramedic examined patients. I noticed that all of the patients were men. I had seen this before in rural Afghanistan. In highly conservative rural Muslim societies, often women would wait to be treated until the men were gone.

While the rest of the team held security, I surveyed the area. Under the shade of a tree, I found about 50 women and children sitting, waiting to be seen. In the extreme heat and humidity, many of the children were lying around or sleeping, but earlier in the day Dolhun had briefed us to be especially attentive to babies that were “floppy.” At the time, I thought to myself that floppy didn’t sound like a proper medical term. Aren’t all babies kind of floppy? Sure enough, among the dozens of children, one woman was holding her listless baby who appeared exactly how the doctor described—a little “floppy.” His eyes were rolled back in his head, and when I shook him or played with his arm there was no response.

I grabbed another Rubicon member who brought a translator over to the child. We were told that the baby had been vomiting for days and would not drink or eat anything. At that point we grabbed Dolhun.

FULL POST

By Kaj Larsen, Correspondent

Editor's note: Kaj is covering the aftermath of the flooding in Pakistan for American Morning. Watch his reports on AMERICAN MORNING at 6:00AM Eastern.

One way of describing the flood crisis in Pakistan is as two separate catastrophes: one in the north and one in the south.

The north's crisis can be described as destruction of infrastructure, including roads, bridges and homes. The crisis in the south can be described as desperation as a large portion of the country remains under water without access to food, shelter, clean water or the agriculture that provides daily sustenance for much of the population.

The water destruction is not the only thing that differentiates the northern and southern half of Pakistan. Complicated tribal, cultural, ethnic, religious and even geographical differences also separate the country.

Though neither region can be described as homogenous, many scholars and national security experts feel that the U.S. faces an uphill battle in winning support in the northern and tribal parts of Pakistan, while the more moderate middle and southern parts of the country could be fertile ground for finding Pakistanis who are friendly towards U.S. policy. Some have gone as far as to argue that we should target the flood aid towards the moderate middle and southern parts of the country, like the Sindh province and the Punjab region where the U.S. has the greatest chance of influencing people.

As I drove around the country covering the aftermath of the floods, I spoke to Pakistanis about their feelings on Americans and U.S. policy. Here is what they had to say.

Watch the rest of Kaj Larsen's reporting on the aftermath of the flooding in Pakistan on American Morning tomorrow at 6:00AM Eastern.