In response to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, the World Health Organization has advised all nations to prepare for the detection, investigation and management of confirmed and suspected EVD cases in order to prevent further spread through international travel. To gain insights into the state of preparedness of European hospitals, an electronic survey was circulated in Au...

Disaster studies address the social and behavioral aspects of sudden onset collective stress situations typically referred to as mass emergencies or disasters. These situations can be created by natural hazards, technological accidents, violent intergroup conflicts, shortages of vital resources, and other major hazards to life, health, property, well-being and everyday routines. Disaster studie...

There is a wind of transformation blowing across the world today. It is changing the face of emergency management and every field of human endeavor. It is called “social media”. These days, social media is redefining crisis preparedness through the increasing participation of the masses in the creation and distribution of content in ways that surpass the capacity of the mass media and public au...

In recent years, a series of large-scale, high-profile natural disasters and terrorist attacks have demonstrated the need for thorough and effective disaster preparedness. While these extreme events affect communities and societies as a whole, they also carry specific risks for particular population groups. Crises such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan h...

Major disasters are unpredictable massive devastating events and are uncomfortably common resulting in multiple human casualties. They are an immediate threat to public health [1-3]. If a disaster is of major proportions, as may be the case in an earthquake or flood, an entire region or extensive national territory may be involved [1]. All disasters, whether flood, earthquake, cyclone, drought ...

assessing the preparedness rate againest earthquake risk in hospitals affiliated to urmia university of medical sciences 2011     hekmatkhah a [1] , rahimi h [2] , kamali aghdam m [3] , taghavi shahri sm [4] , sadeghifar j [5] , hamouzadeh p [6] *     received: 22 nov, 2011 accepted: 15 jan, 2012     abstract   background & aims : the necessity for providing appropriate services in hospitals du...