Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami on 11 March 2011. Although this catastrophe has caused the most devastating damage to Japan since World War II, we believe that our systematic preparation for disasters somewhat alleviated the damage. Learning lessons from the magnitude 7.3 Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995, the government organized approximately 700 medical teams spec...

BACKGROUND A new model of a local disaster medical system (LDMS) was proposed through the consensus method of expert panel meetings for county governments in Taiwan. This LDMS model adopts a local emergency medical response system (EMRS) for dealing with daily accidents as a basic structure by expanding its roles and functions. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of the...

BACKGROUND The term acute kidney injury (AKI) and its classification in strata defined as Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss and End-stage renal failure (RIFLE) need to be validated in different patient groups. RIFLE may be useful to foresee medical and logistic problems in crush-related AKI in disaster victims. METHODS Taken from the Marmara earthquake crush database, the subjects included 416 pati...

After a large-scale humanitarian disaster, 30-50% of victims develop moderate or severe psychological distress. Rates of mild and moderate mental disorders increase by 5-10% and severe disorders by 1-2%. Those with such disorders need access to mental healthcare. Primary care clinics are appropriate due to their easy accessibility and the non-stigmatising environment. There is a consensus among...

We develop a comprehensive simulation model for civilian emergency/disaster responses. In order to incorporate the detailed interactions among various responders and victims, we integrate the agent-based modeling ideas into the discrete-event simulation framework and hybrid several components such as GIS.

BACKGROUND Time discounting refers to the fact that the subjective value of a reward decreases as the delay until its occurrence increases. The present study investigated how time discounting has been affected in survivors of the magnitude-8.0 Wenchuan earthquake that occurred in China in 2008. METHODOLOGY Nineteen earthquake survivors and 22 controls, all school teachers, participated in the...

BACKGROUND Following natural disasters, mismanagement of the dead has consequences for the psychological well-being of survivors. However, no technical guidelines currently exist for managing mass fatalities following large natural disasters. Existing methods of mass fatality management are not directly transferable as they are designed for transport accidents and acts of terrorism. Furthermore...