Number Of Natural Disasters Research Articles

Quality of Care in Humanitarian Surgery

The numbers of disasters caused by natural events have increased significantly over the past two decades. This has seen the need for the corresponding disaster-related medical and surgical assistance to increase proportionally. The increase in the number of natural disasters is dominated by hydrometeorological events, such as flooding and strong winds, although geophysical disasters such as landslides and earthquakes appear to have a more destructive impact on both people and property [1]. Earthquakes killed, on average, 50,184 people per year during the period 2000–2008 and caused severe injuries to a significant number people who, as a result, required some type of surgical care/attention [2, 3]. This medical/surgical care has all too often taken place in challenging conditions, as Chu et al. describe accurately in their introduction [4], probably referring to the devastating earthquake in Port-au Prince, Haiti last year. It is positive news that there has been a concomitant increase in the number of international humanitarian agencies of various kinds that are able to mobilize on such occasions. However, it also creates both logistical and medical/surgical problems. In Haiti, the number of agencies involved in the humanitarian operation has been estimated to many hundred [5]. These agencies ranged from groups of doctors arriving without any equipment, to small clinics with special surgical/orthopedic equipment, to large nongovernmental organizations with well equipped multidisciplinary field hospitals, to the large U.S. hospital ship. Whether surgical procedures were performed under acceptable conditions is unclear in many cases. Were the surgeons prepared for the surgical challenges they were to face? How many operations did they expect to perform? Two amputations? A cesarean section? Has the need for these interventions remained unchanged despite the disaster? What kind of limb-saving intervention is realistic, or what amputation technique should be adopted in that context? Most importantly, who was accountable for what treatments/procedures were offered, and who took responsibility for the continuation of those treatments once the mission was completed? Chu et al. stressed the importance of ensuring the quality of the surgical procedures conducted in the humanitarian setting by applying structural, process, and outcome measures. Their suggestions of applying minimum standards for safe surgery, treatment protocols, and standardized data collection as well as better training for surgeons and anesthesiologists should be achievable today. This should be endorsed by the dominant nongovernmental organizations in this field, such as the Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Red Cross, as well as the International Society of Surgery. In the future, further improvement of the quality of care in the field of humanitarian surgery should be possible to achieve by some kind of registration and accreditation of the various actors. In addition, less competition, better coordination, and cooperation among the agencies is necessary. It is easy to agree with Chu et al. when they say, ‘‘the surgical humanitarian community should pull together before the next disaster strikes.’’ L. Riddez (&) Section of Emergency and Trauma Surgery, Gastro Center Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden e-mail: louis.riddez@karolinska.se

IMPACT OF CULTURE TOWARDS DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Number of natural disasters has risen sharply worldwide making the risk of disasters a global concern. These disasters have created significant losses and damages to humans, economy and society. Despite the losses and damages created by disasters, some individuals and communities do not attach much significance to natural disasters. Risk perception towards a disaster not only depends on the danger it could create but also the behaviour of the communities and individuals that is governed by their culture. Within this context, this study examines the relationship between culture and disaster risk reduction (DRR ). A comprehensive literature review is used for the study to evaluate culture, its components and to analyse a series of case studies related to disaster risk. It was evident from the study that in some situations, culture has become a factor for the survival of the communities from disasters where as in some situations culture has acted as a barrier for effective DRR activities. The study suggests community based DRR activities as a mechanism to integrate with culture to effectively manage disaster risk. Santruka Pasaulyje gerokai padaugejo stichiniu nelaimiu, taigi ju keliama rizika jaudina visa pasauli. Del tokiu nelaimiu daug nuostoliu ir žalos patiria žmones, ekonomika ir visuomene. Nepaisant nuostoliu ir žalos, kuria atneša nelaimes, kai kurie individai ir bendruomenes stichinems nelaimems neteike daug reikšmes. Iš nelaimes kylančios rizikos suvokimas priklauso ne tik nuo pavojaus, kuri tokia nelaime gali sukelti, bet ir nuo bendruomeniu bei individu elgsenos, kuria lemia ju kultūra. Atsižvelgiant i ši konteksta, darbe nagrinejamas ryšys tarp kultūros ir nelaimiu keliamos rizikos mažinimo. Siekiant ivertinti kultūra ir jos komponentus, išanalizuoti keli su nelaimiu rizika susije atvejai, tyrime plačiai apžvelgiama literatūra. Iš tyrimo paaiškejo, kad kai kuriais atvejais kultūra per nelaimes leme bendruomeniu išlikima, o kitais atvejais trukde efektyviam nelaimiu keliamos rizikos mažinimui. Tyrime bendruomeniu vykdoma nelaimiu keliamos rizikos mažinimo veikla siūloma kaip mechanizmas, leidžiantis integruojant kultūra efektyviai valdyti nelaimiu keliama rizika.

Emergency Sanitation

The increasing number of natural disasters and other emergency situations must lead to a reevaluation with regards to the supply of essentials for affected people, especially in the field of water and sanitation. Emergency sanitation facilities have to be wisely planned and implemented in time in order to reduce the risks of outbreaks of communicable diseases in shelters or temporary settlements. The presented technical solutions for post-disaster sewage are based on a compact-sized combination of mechanical sedimentation and anaerobic biological wastewater treatment processes. Using different types of prefabricated components, these systems are designed to meet the unique logistical requirements of disaster scenarios. An important “lesson learnt” from past experiences is the need to reduce the wastewater volume from shelters, as transport and space for appropriate treatment are always a limiting factor. The applied wastewater treatment following DEWATS-principles will allow a reduction of BOD and COD of over 90%. In order to accelerate the startup, anaerobic sludge from existing plants will be injected into the reactors. Investment costs are below 5 $ per connected person and the maximum response time after identification of the location in demand until the start of operation is 5 days.

Disaster and crisis management in Turkey: a need for a unified crisis management system

PurposeCrisis management has gained importance in the policy agendas of many countries around the world due to the increases in the number of natural disasters and terrorist attacks. Thus, this paper has two purposes. The first is to illustrate how the Turkish Government's Disaster and Crisis Management System has been developed. The second purpose is to make a qualitative evaluation of the current disaster and crisis management systems.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review shows that the disaster and crisis management system in Turkey has been developed after tragic events. The paper examines what kinds of initiatives were introduced and what is the trend in shift. After analyzing recent cases and exploring some government initiatives, alternative approaches and suggestions were included.FindingsTurkey has developed its disaster and crisis management system since 1930, which mostly depended on experiences. The current disaster and crisis management system is governed by a centralized structure which is the responsibility of different ministries. Nonetheless, the system is very weak at local level. Furthermore, participation of non‐profit organizations is very limited at both national and local levels. Thus, coordination and management of first‐response operations during crises are problematic and ineffective. Particularly, the system is not designed for different types of crises such as terrorist attacks.Practical implicationsCrisis management in Turkey needs a more unified and flexible structure to deal with current problems effectively. Further suggestions for better implication are also providedOriginality/valueThe effectiveness of the disaster and crisis management system is analyzed in natural and man‐made disasters. Findings show that centralized and decentralized systems have different functions in different situations.

Knowledge sharing in relief supply chains

Relief Supply Chain Management (SCM) is rapidly gaining interest in academia at the same time as the number of actors in humanitarian aid and the number of natural disasters are increasing. In order to bring relief to beneficiaries, cooperation between relief supply chains as well as within supply chains is needed. However, at the same time as cooperating, many of the actors in the supply chains compete for the same financial resources (donations). Therefore, cooperation as well as competition, i.e., coopetition, are evident features in relief supply chains, which impact on the incentive to share knowledge among actors. This paper therefore aims at increasing the understanding of knowledge sharing in and between relief supply chains. The importance of Communities of Practice (CoPs) is highlighted in this context, shedding light on the way knowledge sharing is taking place across relief supply chains. After discussing existing CoPs, suggestions are made for how these can be used to enhance knowledge sharing. The paper concludes with avenues for further research.

Promotion of Community-based Disaster Reduction Activity through Hands-on Training in Sri Lanka

The number of natural disasters in Sri Lanka has increased over the last two decades. In particular, the Indian Ocean Tsunami had a disastrous impact on communities in Sri Lanka, with 4,330 deaths and 564 persons reported missing (as of 05 April 2005) in Galle District. In order to raise public awareness of various categories of citizens on disaster reduction, the capacity building project at all community levels starting from the grass-roots level was carried out in Galle District. The initial process started from the process of trainer’s training, the so-called District Workshop, and the outcome made the participants trainers in their localities and they repeated the same exercise to educate their communities in Community Workshops. The progress of the project was followed up by Japanese experts. A total of 102 Community Workshops were held in the immediate phase after the District Workshop. The practical session consists of a Community-based Hazard Mapping program of which the results were used to identify disaster vulnerable areas in community neighborhood by the participants. 41

Disaster Medical Services Planning

During the past century, several million people have perished from natural disasters, and several million more have been displaced by these same disasters. More recently, a number of natural disasters have occurred (for example, the tsunami in Indonesia, the earthquake in Pakistan, and the hurricanes in the Gulf States) that killed or displaced several hundred thousand people. This underscores the need for disaster planning for natural and technological disasters based on the probability that disasters will occur throughout the world.

Public health and natural disasters: disaster preparedness and response in health systems

The number of natural disasters and the severity of their impact have increased in recent decades. These developments highlight the need for improved preparedness and response in the health sector, inter alia, and the important role of public health in disaster management. The purpose of this paper, which is based on a literature review, is to provide background information about the general framework of disaster management and present the core concepts of disaster preparedness and response in health systems. Three different strategies were used to collect information for this article. First, information was collected from various international databases. Then, the virtual health library for disasters provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO Health Action in Crisis (HAC) online sources were reviewed for relevant WHO and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) books, working papers and reports. Finally, PubMed abstracts were searched with key words and phrases. For greater completeness, five disaster journals were hand searched. Additional sources such as text books, working papers, and articles were included, relying on the bibliography of the original study mentioned in the introduction to this paper. The studies reviewed indicated that fragmented and response-oriented approaches have begun to change world wide, at least in the literature. Despite the publication of increasing numbers of research projects in disaster issues, there are still gaps in sharing experience through scientific papers, such as systematic evaluation of activities in different phases of disaster situations.

Clinical Characteristics of Tuberculosis in North Korean Refugees

Background : North Korea's economic and public health problems began in the early 1990s as a result of the gradual loss of economic support from its communist allies, combined with an inordinate number of natural disasters. The decline in public health has increased the incidence of tuberculosis in North Koreans and refugees. This study investigated tuberculosis situation in North Korean refugees in order to prepare for the future impact of tuberculosis control in Korea. Material and Methods : From 2001 to 2005, tuberculosis patients among North Korean refugees who were diagnosed before or after arriving in South Korea, based on the official records of OO hospital, were enrolled in this study. The demographic and clinical data of the cases were evaluated retrospectively. Results : A total of 42 TB cases were reviewed during the study period. Of these, 37 (88.1%) cases were pulmonary TB. based on the cases identified among the number of North Korean refugees' arriving each year, the annual incidence of pulmonary TB were 900 per 100,000 in 2004, 700 in 2003, The number of smear-positive patients was 20 (47.6%) and the number of culture-positive patients was 18 (42.9%). Of the M. tuberculosis isolates, 2 cases were found to be susceptible to all anti-TB drugs available, 4 were resistant to isoniazid, and 3 were multi-drug resistant. Conclusion : The prevalence of pulmonary TB in North Korean Refugees is high. In addition, North Korean refugees suffer from more severe tuberculosis in bacteriological and radiological aspects.

Community-based public health interventions in North Korea: one non-governmental organization's experience with tuberculosis and hepatitis B

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea, is the most isolated country in the world, and has been a source of interest, politically and socially, since the 1953 ceasefire of the Korean War. While in the past year, interest has focused on the nuclear dispute with the USA, over the past decade, most interest has revolved around the economic plight of the country, the lack of funds and resources for health care, and the subsequent public health declines. North Korea's present economic and public health problems began in the early 1990s due to the gradual loss of economic support from its communist allies (i.e. after the fall of the Soviet Union and the capitalization of China), combined with an inordinate number of natural disasters (floods, famine and drought) all occurring within the same time span. These simultaneous events initiated a 'snowball effect' of severe economic depression and a rapid deterioration of the overall public health infrastructure in the country. North Korea's continued isolation and reluctance to release health statistics has left the international community uncertain of the precise extent of the public health devastation. The uncertainty of the situation has been further complicated by disparate accounts of the public health declines. For instance, the North Korean Government has estimated that approximately 220,000 people died due to famine in the 1990s, while the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that this figure is closer to 2 million. In the past few years, the willingness of the North Korean Government to engage the outside world has increased. This is reflected by the growing number of foreign aid organizations or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been permitted entry into the country. NGOs have not only served to improve various aspects of the public health system but also serve as a source of 'on-the-ground' information for the outside world. This role has proven critical not only for public health purposes but for facilitating improved international relations between countries.

Social and economic factors of the natural risk increasing: estimation of the Russian regions

Abstract. This study is an attempt to assess quantitatively social and economic factors that determine vulnerability of Russian regions to natural risk, to trace the space differences of the considered factors, and to group the regions by their similarity. In order to indicate the regional differences in social and economic development, equipment condition, dangerous substances accumulation, and social trouble four the most suitable parameters were estimated, including the per capita production of Gross Regional Product (GRP), capital consumption, volume of total toxic waste, and crime rate. Increase of the first parameter causes vulnerability reducing, the increase of the last three causes its increasing. Using multidimensional cluster analysis five types of regions were found for Russia according to similarity of the considered parameters. These types are characterized with higher value of a single (rarely two) chosen parameter, which seems to be sufficient enough to affect natural risks increasing in these regions in near future. Only few regions belonging to the fifth type proved to have rather high value of GRP and relatively low values of the other parameters. The negative correlation was found between a number of natural disasters (ND) and the per capita GRP in case when some parameters reached anomalously high value. The distinctions between regions by prevailing different parameters, which result in natural risk increasing, help risk management to find directions where to focus on.

Insurance and the natural hazards

Insurance and the natural hazards