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PubMedDate not supplied

Preparation of a hospital rehabilitation system for war and other disasters.

A large number of casualties caused by war are in need of medical rehabilitation. Rehabilitation facilities are unable to cope adequately with them without advance planning and preparedness. Guidelines are suggested for the planning and preparation of a hospital rehabilitation system for war, including the formulation of policies, expanding and strengthening of existing rehabilitation facilities, and converting institutions, as well as securing the necessary human and material resources. It is also suggested that such plans and preparations should be adapted to form a basis for meeting rehabilitation needs caused by natural and civil disasters.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed2006

Responding to the mental health and psychosocial needs of the people of Sri Lanka in disasters.

This paper describes the mental health and psychosocial response to the Boxing Day tsunami in Sri Lanka. The need to deal with the immediate psychological distress of survivors and provide psychosocial support after the tsunami was recognized early by the President of Sri Lanka and advisory group set up. In conjunction with the WHO regional office and local representatives, a National Plan of action for management and delivery of psychosocial and mental health care needs was set up. Advice was provided on the right type of psychological approaches to use when dealing with survivors--for example, not forcing people to relive their experiences, listening without offering opinions and not diagnosing or labelling people as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The early response and community level work are described in this paper as well as how this has led to a new level of disaster preparedness and a new national mental health policy and proposals for new mental health legislation.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2005

Preparing and responding to major accidents and disasters.

After major incidents and disasters psychosocial support for the people affected is urgent and sometimes predominant. To plan and train staff for psychosocial intervention European and national guidelines have been developed. The European Policy Paper "Psychosocial support in situations of mass emergencies" offers guidance for policy-makers and health-planners. The quality and time of early psychosocial interventions after a traumatic event are important factors for the coping capacity of the people affected. To meet the needs of those affected crisis intervention teams for psychosocial acute care have been established and trained in almost all federal provinces of Austria acccording to the principles of the Policy Paper.

Accidents↗
PubMed1994

Identification in the Lockerbie air disaster.

In the aftermath of the Lockerbie air disaster, identification of the victims (plane occupants and local residents) was established by two primary methods: odontology and dactylography. Scottish law requires corroboration of evidence of identity, so both primary methods were used whenever possible, with further evidence occasionally derived from the matching of physical characteristics, personal effects and details from past medical records. Of the 270 victims, 253 were positively identified. Of these, 209 were identified with the aid of odontology.

Accidents, Aviation↗
PubMed2005

Preparing health professions students for terrorism, disaster, and public health emergencies: core competencies.

The recent increased threat of terrorism, coupled with the ever-present dangers posed by natural disasters and public health emergencies, clearly support the need to incorporate bioterrorism preparedness and emergency response material into the curricula of every health professions school in the nation. A main barrier to health care preparedness in this country is a lack of coordination across the spectrum of public health and health care communities and disciplines. Ensuring a unified and coordinated approach to preparedness requires that benchmarks and standards be consistent across health care disciplines and public health, with the most basic level being education of health professions students. Educational competencies establish the foundation that enables graduates to meet occupational competencies. However, educational needs for students differ from the needs of practitioners. In addition, there must be a clear connection between departments of public health and all other health care entities to ensure proper preparedness. The authors describe both a process and a list of core competencies for teaching emergency preparedness to students in the health care professions, developed in 2003 and 2004 by a team of experts from the four health professions schools of Columbia University in New York City. These competencies are directly applicable to medical, dental, nursing, and public health students. They can also easily be adapted to other health care disciplines, so long as differences in levels of proficiency and the need for clinical competency are taken into consideration.

Allied Health Personnel↗
PubMed1998

Disaster preparedness pays off.

Last spring, the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota was devastated by an unprecedented flood. Flooding caused foundations to collapse and houses to float away or become severely damaged by the raging, sewage-filled water. The river displaced people from their homes, and caused significant disruption of services including water, power, and medical care for 18 days. Find out how a medical contingency plan enabled staff members at the only trauma center and the largest clinic in the region to evacuate safely and effectively nearly 1,000 patients and senior residents in 36 hours, while setting up critical services across the region to care for the 50,000 displaced residents of the flood disaster.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Autopsy of a disaster: the Martinez bus accident.

On 21 May 1975 a chartered bus carrying 51 members of a student choir rolled from a sharply curved freeway off-ramp and fell 22 feet, landing on its roof, which collapsed. Twenty-nine passengers died (25 before extrication) and 22, plus the driver, survived. An analysis of factors leading up to the accident reveals several contributing causes, among them inadequate design of the ramp, poor warning signs, driver inexperience with the bus, and deficient bus maintenance. Bus design itself contributed to the lethality of the event. Structural support for the roof was inadequate and no access was available to the interior for extrication of victims. Problems with organization at the scene, triage, and communications among agencies involved in the rescue and receiving hospitals contributed to confusion in the transport of victims, although it appears this had little impact on outcome. An analysis of the accident allows several lessons to be learned which might prevent, or reduce, the fatalities from future accidents involving multipassenger vehicles, and other disasters with 10 to 25, or more than 25 fatalities. In the present report ten of 25 killed were judged possibly salvageable with immediate extrication.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2005

When disaster strikes.

In response to the healthcare issues resulting from Hurricane Katrina, The Nurse Practitioner has compiled information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to educate nurse practitioners (NPs) about previously uncommon illnesses presenting in the wake of the disaster, CDC recommendations on immunizations and infection prevention, and guidelines for providing proper wound care. Visit http://www.cdc.gov for full text of these articles.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed1998

Organizational problems faced by the Missouri DOH in providing disaster relief during the 1993 floods.

This case study examines the organizational problems of Missouri Department of Health (DOH) while providing flood relief in 1993. It reveals low awareness of DOH's emergency plan, disorganized information collection, and perceptions that federal flood relief was "resource-driven," not "need-driven." Lessons for other health departments are (1) Information collection during disasters should be centralized. (2) Health departments should train district offices to carry out their emergency plan, and include local health departments in emergency planning. (3) Federal and state agencies providing emergency aid should be sensitive to the needs of district and local health departments.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed1999

Community-based disaster management during the 1997 Red River Flood in Canada.

This paper examines the relationship between community preparedness and response to natural disaster and their level and pattern of community development. This is done by investigating preparation and response to the 1997 Red River Flood by three rural communities in Manitoba, Canada. The communities were selected because of their different ethnic mix and associated level and pattern of community development. The hypothesis was supported that the level and pattern of community development affect community capacity to respond to flooding. Communities characterised by higher levels of physical, human and social capital were better prepared and more effective responders to the flood. However, where the pattern of community development was characterised by high levels of social capital, decision-making processes were complicated.

Community Networks↗
PubMed2000

Cyclone mitigation, resource allocation and post-disaster reconstruction in south India: lessons from two decades of research.

This paper opens with a history of development and disaster-prevention strategies in a cyclone-prone area of the east coast of India and traces the evolution in the area of British and Indian governments' programmes and policy over a century. Research over the last 20 years has shown, however, that the programmes and policies have failed to balance economic growth with safety. Resources intended for the benefit of all have been diverted by alliances of powerful people to a small minority, and recent developments have reduced the physical protection of the area. The result is that increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to the effects of cyclones and floods. The findings suggest that the best way to reduce vulnerability is to improve the socio-economic standing of the most vulnerable and for this to happen these people must have an assured income based on assets that will enable them to acquire social and economic credit-worthiness within the local economy. This paper presents evidence that suggests that non-governmental organisation (NGO)-supported co-operatives are the best way to achieve this through self-help and self-employment schemes. It also suggests that NGOs should be encouraged to take up environmentally and ecologically beneficial activities involving the poorest groups in the communities, in this way combining sustained self-employment with environmental protection.

Community Participation↗
PubMed2003

An exploratory comparison of disasters, riots and terrorist acts.

One question that emerged following the 11 September attacks was how to categorise and classify the event within existing disaster and conflict-event research frameworks. A decade ago, Quarantelli (1993) compared findings on the similarities and differences between consensus- and conflict-type events by illustrating a conceptual distinction between the two. In this paper, this discussion is expanded to include terrorist attacks by offering comparisons from research findings following 11 September. We provide analyses of individual, organisational, and community-level behaviour in crisis situations and suggest how 11 September is both similar to, and differs from, consensus- and conflict-type events as they were previously considered. Applications for emergency management are also suggested.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

From disaster to sustainable civil society: the Kobe experience.

Nine years after the Kobe earthquake in Japan, social issues are still prominent, and the rehabilitation process is still ongoing. The earthquake caused two major changes in Japanese society: an increase in voluntary and non-government activities, and the enhancement of cooperation between local government and the residents' association. People's participation in the decision-making process was a significant achievement. To sustain the efforts generated after the earthquake, the Kobe Action Plan was formulated and tested in different disaster scenarios. The current study suggests that civil societies in urban areas are sustainable if, first, the activities related to daily services are provided by the resident's associations; and second, these are linked to economic incentives. Leadership plays a crucial role in collective decision-making. Creation of the support system is essential for long-term sustainability of civil-society activities. These observations are exemplified in the case study in Nishi Suma, one of the worst-affected areas in the Kobe city.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed1995

Desert locusts in Africa: a disaster?

Migrating locusts, especially the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), have been feared in Africa for thousands of years as famine-inducing pests. Instead of simply waiting for outbreaks to occur, attempts are being made to take preventive action against these pests. Since the breeding areas of the desert locust are distributed across the entire Sahel region, the Arabian peninsula, Pakistan and India, a gigantic logistical and organizational effort is required. Every year, millions of dollars are spent on these preventive control measures, which are still unable to prevent locust plagues completely. The outbreaks in 1987/88 and 1993/94 are the most recent examples. Exactly how large potential disasters caused by gigantic locust swarms may be and whether the effort and expense involved in preventing them pays off economically has never been systematically investigated. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) project, 'Integrated Biological Control of Grasshoppers and Locusts', has attempted to assess, on the basis of the available data, what the costs and potential benefits are and to identify the difficulties involved in developing an effective strategy.

Africa↗
PubMed1983

Aftermath of a disaster: the collapse of the Hyatt Regency Hotel skywalks.

The author provides data regarding psychiatric symptoms reported by 102 persons who had experienced the collapse of two skywalks in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Mo. Those interviewed were injured victims, guests of the hotel who were not injured, and rescue workers. They were interviewed within 5 months of the disaster. Virtually all of the subjects had psychiatric symptoms; only slight differences were found among those who were victims, observers, or rescuers.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The informatics response in disaster, terrorism, and war.

The United States currently faces several new, concurrent large-scale health crises as a result of terrorist activity. In particular, three major health issues have risen sharply in urgency and public consciousness--bioterrorism, the threat of widespread delivery of agents of illness; mass disasters, local events that produce large numbers of casualties and overwhelm the usual capacity of health care delivery systems; and the delivery of optimal health care to remote military field sites. Each of these health issues carries large demands for the collection, analysis, coordination, and distribution of health information. The authors present overviews of these areas and discuss ongoing work efforts of experts in each.

Bioterrorism↗
PubMed1982

Cambodian disaster relief: refugee camp medical care.

The lack of available data impedes the efficient delivery of health care in disaster situations. We present organizational information and patient data based on review of 924 consecutive admissions seen during our three-month experience as refugee camp pediatricians at Khao-I-Dang Holding Center for Kampucheans in Thailand. Most patients had severe and multiple common diseases, with pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, and meningitis having the highest incidence. To optimize care, the gathering and distribution of epidemiologic data, the development of laboratory facilities and treatment protocols, standardization of supplies, and the initiation of programs for disease prevention must be stressed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Assessment of a severe-weather warning system and disaster preparedness, Calhoun County, Alabama, 1994.

Tornado preparedness warning system effectiveness, and shelter-seeking behavior were examined in two Alabama areas after tornado warnings. In the area without sirens, only 28.9% of 194 respondents heard a tornado warning of these, 73.2% first received the warning from radios or television. In the area with sirens, 88.1% of 193 respondents heard a warning, and 61.8% first received the warning from a siren. Knowledge of warnings, access to shelter, and education were key predictors for seeking shelter. Our findings indicate that installing sirens, providing access to shelter, and teaching appropriate responses to warnings are important elements of an effective disaster prevention system.

Alabama↗