The United States has transferred its historic 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital to Pakistani military personnel, who will continue using the tent facility to treat survivors of the South Asia earthquake.

The transfer of the $4.6 million tent hospital is part of evolving US assistance to Pakistan. The United States has set a target date of March 31 to end emergency military assistance to Pakistan, but the US government will continue providing non-military relief-and-reconstruction assistance worth more than $500 million.

• Quake hits North India

The October 8, 2005, South Asia earthquake claimed more than 73,000 lives, displaced 2.8 million people from their homes and caused widespread destruction in one of the most mountainous and inaccessible regions of Pakistan.

MASH personnel were scheduled to return to their home base in Miesau, Germany [Images], following transfer Thursday.

The 212th MASH was the last of its kind in the US Army. In the past 15 years, the facility has deployed and treated patients in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq.

The entire MASH facility is worth $4.6 million, including $4 million in medical equipment, $200,000 of expendable medical supplies, $281,000 of power equipment and $126,000 of medical maintenance equipment.