In 1960, Cuba sent an emergency brigade to Chile to assist the recovery from the Valdivia earthquake. The programme was officially initiated in 1963 as part of Cuba's foreign policy of supporting anti-colonial struggles. It began when Cuba sent a small medical brigade to Algeria, which suffered from the mass withdrawal of French medical personnel during the Algerian War of Independence Some wounded soldiers and war orphans were also transported back to Cuba for treatment. Cuba was able to put this programme in place despite half the country's 6,000 doctors fleeing after the Cuban revolution. Between 1966 and 1974, Cuban doctors worked alongside Cuban artillery in Guinea-Bissau during its war of independence against Portugal. Cuba's largest foreign campaign was in Angola where, in 1977, two years after the campaign's commencement, only one Angolan province out of sixteen was without Cuban health technicians. After 1979, Cuba also developed a strong relationship with Nicaragua.