The Immediate Effects of Natural Disasters – Trauma and Injury

A natural disaster is defined as an event of nature, which overwhelms local resources and threatens the function and safety of the community. Generally, disasters are the ultimate test of a community’s emergency response capability. A thoughtful and well-organised emergency strategy will be able to quickly adjust and adapt to unforeseen situations and complications. (1) An emergency strategy that is myopic and static in nature is doomed to fail as the disaster situation grows, becoming both complex and unpredictable. Disasters are difficult to plan and anticipate because they are innately different from common emergency events. While it is true that both can lead to large amounts of casualties and property damage, the difference between a disaster and a common emergency event is more than one of magnitude alone. A disaster challenge cannot be overcome by mobilising more personnel or materials. In order for a community to survive a catastrophe scenario, a disaster plan that is adaptable to multidisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional situations is needed. (2) Large scale disasters can have a multitude of effects upon a community: from economic to social, from physical to psychological. This report will attempt to catalogue and briefly discuss the immediate medical and long-term health effects of a natural disaster. Other topics such as the disruption of a community’s critical infrastructure, vulnerable groups within populations, and common misconceptions in disaster response will also be reviewed. Finally, mitigation and loss reduction strategies will be introduced in the context of injury prevention and promotion of health benefits.