Why Medical Students Should Be Trained in Disaster Management: Our Experience of the Kashmir Earthquake

September 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 9 | e382 During the past 20 years, natural disasters have claimed more than 3 million lives worldwide, affected at least 800 million people, and resulted in property damage exceeding $US50 billion [1]. On 8 October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale (categorized as a major quake) struck Pakistan, along with parts of India and Afghanistan. [2]. The epicenter was about 19 kilometers northeast of Muzaffarabad (the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir), and 100 kilometers north-northeast of Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan) [2]. In addition to causing direct casualties (Table 1), the earthquake resulted in widespread damage, wiping out entire villages and fl attening towns and cities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. About 60 percent of concrete buildings in Muzaffarabad collapsed, and an estimated 3.3 million people were rendered homeless [2]. The quake triggered landslides, burying entire villages and roads in many areas of NWFP and Pakistan-administered Kashmir [2]. In this essay, we discuss the role that medical students played in disaster relief activities.