2015 Nepal Earthquake: Lessons Learnt for Health Care Team

VirojWiwanitkit

Professor, Hainan Medical University, China.

*Corresponding Author

VirojWiwanitkit M.D.
Professor,
Hainan Medical University,
China.
E-mail: wviroj@yahoo.com

Article Type: Editorial
Received: May 14, 2015; Published: May 19, 2015

Citation: VirojWiwanitkit (2015) 2015 Nepal Earthquake: Lessons Learnt for Health Care Team. Int J Natural Disaster Health Secur, 2(1e), 1. doi: dx.doi.org/10.19070/2572-7540-150002e

Copyright: VirojWiwanitkit © 2015. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Keywords

Nepal; Earthquake;, Lesson; Health Care; Team.

Introduction

The occurrence of 2015 Nepal earthquake is an actual disaster that can shock in the world. This earthquake is considered as a big quake that causesseveral destruction to Nepal and nearby countries. Nearly ten thousand deaths due to this crisis are estimated. Medical support to Nepal from around the world is needed and there are several responds from many countries around the world [1, 2]. There are several lessons learnt for health care team.

What to concern in management of post earthquake crisis?

In fact, when an earthquake hits an area, there are several destructions. The destroyed building, facilities, transportation and communication channels can be expected [3]. For the medical aspect, the destroyed medical center and hospital can be expected. But the most important problems in medical concern are injured and death patients. Acute phase after post earthquake, there will be numerous injured patients. For the death, management of corpse by forensic medical team and proper corpses management to prevent outbreak of unwanted diseases from corpses is needed. For the survivors, wound care and injuries management in the resource limited situation is an actual challenge. This is usually dependent to the support from outside (since the local facilities are usually destroyed). The sanitation is an extremely important issue that cannot be forgotten. To prevent possible emerging infectious diseases must be kept in mind. This has to cover the possible zoonosis from sick animals as well [4]. Vaccination has to be applied and the setting of simple sanitation facilities such as clean water and toilets has to be abruptly done by the care team [5]. Finally, the care of acute post traumatic disorder has to be included [6].

What the health care team should prepare and beware?

The health care team has to be well trained before visiting to the disaster area. The health care team has to be well vaccinated and must apply the safety and sanitation rules in practice. The stress can be expected. Having a mean to relax and refresh is important. Preparation of medical utensils has to be well done to correspond to the influx of medical cases. All things have to be well prepared and this can be well done if there is a prior earthquake management program [7]. Also, the health care team has to beware of several conditions. The new environments, different from their hometown, as well as the limitation of everything in the disaster area can be the cause of illness to the health care team. The concern on the new emerging disease and endemic disease that the new comers have never been faced up is required. Also, the re-quake that can re-shake and destroy the town is possible and this can injure the health care team as well. This already occurs in Nepal, the second big quake occurs during the post crisis of first quake management. Hence, safety plan to correspond to the repeated crisis is needed. To manage the situation, well training is needed. Nevertheless, the most important thing is the “mind” of the team to “help”.

References

1. (2015) Call for donations after earthquake devastates Nepal. Emerg Nurse 23(2):7.
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3. Wiwanitkit V (2010) Medical concerns and practical points in post-earthquake management. Arch Hellenic Med 28 (6): 829-83.
4. (2015) Veterinary relief efforts begin after Nepal earthquake. Vet Rec 176(19):479.
5. Wiwanitkit V (2010) Vaccination in a post earthquake crisis. Hum Vaccin 6(7):595-6.
6. Ma N, Yu D, Liu M (2008) The impact of great earthquakes on population health. Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing XueZaZhi 29(12):1262-5.
7. Goodyear-Smith F (2010) Preparation for catastrophe. J Prim Health Care 2(4):266-7.