South Asia Earthquake Research Articles

Epidemiology and impact of early rehabilitation of spinal trauma after the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, India.

The Kashmir earthquake, also known as the South Asia earthquake, hit Jammu and Kashmir (India) on 8th October 2005 (registered as 7.6 on Richter scale) and was quite devastating, with the official toll being 1,360 (some estimates being around 1,800). The injured registered around 6,300. In such an enormous disaster, rescue operations, relief and rehabilitation is a great challenge. One week after the Kashmir earthquake (2005), a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team headed by the corresponding author went to Srinagar (Kashmir). The purpose was to tackle the medical rehabilitation issues of the victims of the earthquake and later study the epidemiology of various injuries, especially the spinal injuries, so as to improve the future rehabilitation strategies in similar scenarios. This is a single-phase, hospital-based study of spinal injury patients of the Kashmir earthquake (October 2005) admitted in various hospitals of Srinagar (the capital city of Kashmir, India) and around it. This was conducted one week after the Kashmir earthquake (October 2005). Detailed history of patients, clinical and radiological evaluation was done. In consultation with neurosurgeons and spine surgeons, issues of rehabilitation were noted, and need based on early rehabilitation care was provided by means of rehabilitation orthoses (aids/appliances), physiotherapy, psychotherapy, etc. Out of 2,621 cases who received various injuries (as per records of different hospitals and health institutions), 1,366 (52.11%) were referred to different health institutions of Kashmir valley, of which 429 (31.40%) cases were admitted for orthopaedic intervention at different referral hospitals of Srinagar and Baramula. Out of 429 admitted patients of different hospitals, we covered 266 patients of four major hospitals, of which 38 (12.33%) cases were spinal injuries, 20 cases (52.7%) had dorsolumber segment involvement with 12 cases (31.5%) having cervical and six cases (15.8%) sacrococcigeal injury. In a massive natural calamity like the Kashmir (India) earthquake of 2005, a collective effort by a rehabilitation team for providing supportive/assistive devices along with physiotherapy and psychotherapy has significantly helped in recovery of functional and psychological status of the spinal trauma victims. No doubt that the life saving operations and definitive surgery are important to combat major catastrophe in such disasters but early medical rehabilitation is equally important to reduce injury-related disability.

Risk analysis and crisis response

Today’s society is a risk society, filled with challenges as well as opportunities. Frightened by catastrophic events, such as 9.11, SARS, Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, South Asia earthquake disaster, and bird flu, people increasingly regard risk and crisis as urgent issues. The term risk analysis has different interpretations among various environments. However, there is a growing acceptance that risk analysis involves the development of the probability distribution for the measure of effectiveness. Furthermore, the risk associated is generally either given as the probability of an unfavorable value for the measure of effectiveness or measured by the variance of measure of effectiveness. This special issue is devoted for the papers presented at the First International Conference on Risk Analysis and Crisis Response September 25–26, 2007, Shanghai, China. About 200 papers were presented at this conference and the extended papers of all were submitted after the conference for possible publication in this special issue of Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. After a peer review using at least two referees for each paper, 12 papers included by this issue have been accepted. The financial supply chain is increasingly recognized as an area offering significant potential for generating bottomline improvements and creating competitive advantage. In the first paper, considering the stability of the financial supply chain, the coordination evaluation and fuzzy multiobjective evaluation model of insurers’ risk management are firstly studied by using large system theory and methods. The corresponding coordination evaluation index model is then established to evaluate, forecast and control the actuality and the future of risk coordination management, and to improve the durative development for a combination pension model. The evaluation standards of numerous insurers are established to constitute a set of vectors. By presenting a dimensional point to each insurer, the optimal or the worst insurer is decided. Finally, the distances of each insurer to the optimal or the worst insurer on the basis of the Euclidean distance are counted, and the insurers’ ordering according to the value of distances is sorted out. The second paper presents the morphogenetic system which projects the output samples of fuzzy set to the input samples of the fuzzy sets. In the projection operator the author computes the best rules for the inferential or reasoning process. Modern uncertainty theories (fuzzy logic, Information diffusion) provide a calculus to obtain relationship by observation pattern. With the relationship obtained, the risk in different situation can be estimated. It is known that information structure is essential to forecast the future risk in different situations; the main difficulty in the forecast the risk is to extract rules from a non-coherent set of data. Fuzzy sets and fuzzy rules are essential to detect the uncertainty but are not sufficient to define in an optimal way the rules that describe the relationship among fuzzy variables. Fire is a major risk in the event of large stadium due to fire coincidence with smoke flow and evacuation path. In the next paper, as a part of an effort to improve the life safety in large stadium, the simulation technology combined with fire spread and evacuation is developed. Besides that, in order to decrease the rate of people death in the large stadium fire, the interface between fire and the evacuation people must be designed in the simulation model, based on the influence laws to human behavior by smoke temperature, CO concentration and extinction coefficient in fire condition. Therefore, the investigation of effect of fire spread on life safety is needed. C. Kahraman (&) Department of Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 34367 Macka Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: kahramanc@itu.edu.tr

Space technology: a new frontier for public health

When former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was seen leaving conference in Geneva in November 2005 clutching maps of the south Asia earthquake disaster, it was evidence that satellites--as key weapon in humanitarian emergencies--had arrived. In the hours and days after the October 8 quake struck killing more than 73 000 people and injuring some 150 000, experts from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United Nations scrambled gather and interpret images data from satellites assist rescue workers on the ground from local authorities nongovernmental organizations (NGO), like Telecoms Sans Frontieres. The maps (which can be seen at http://www.disasterscharter.orgl disasters/CALLID_110_e.html) compare the terrain before and after the disaster, and pinpoint the location and impact of landslides. Such photos, says Maarten Meerman, satellite designer at MacDonald Dettwiler in Vancouver, Canada, would be detailed enough to spot flooded roads, burning forests, washed out railways, etc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] These relief crews and aid workers--with their boots knee-deep in mud and their laptops under plastic bags for protection from the rain--got the damage maps and reported that the information was useful, recalls Philippe Bally, an earth observation specialist from the European Agency (ESA) and member of the secretariat of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, seven-year-old commitment by 10 space agencies provide satellite-based data countries affected by disaster. This vote of confidence, he concluded, was a clear message when it comes from the end user. But it was the sight of Annan emerging with maps of the disaster that struck home for Bally, who through the Charter helped coordinate obtaining the images and their interpretation by experts from an ESA project called GMES RESPOND. Those maps, says Bally, the results of huge effort from the Charter alongside value-adding partners working on satellite data extract thematic Great advances have been made in space technology in the past decade, and these advances have become useful for addressing humanitarian crises. The chief of these, as the Pakistan earthquake illustrates, is using satellites obtain images of disaster zone quickly, so that rescue workers can focus their efforts where they are needed. But there are other uses of satellites: as way predict and monitor the spread of communicable diseases; as simple means of communication when land-based systems have failed; and as location and navigation aids when Global Positioning System--GPS--units locate and track public health information. In the outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Kenya (2006-2007), for example, GPS units were used link surveys an actual place on the earth, according Carl Kinkade, enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) coordinator for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ESA is collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) establish European user-driven Telemedicine via Satellite programme. Telemedicine is the use of information technology deliver medical services or information from one location another. The programme will aim provide telemedicine services, such as delivering medical care and treatment via satellite, and, for WHO, key element is training health workers in how use such health technologies in their work. WHO has already trained health workers in how use satellite images in 20 countries. The Satellites For Epidemiology (SAFE) pilot project, for example, is part of that collaboration. According SAFE coordinator Audrey Berthier, of the Institut de Medecine et de Physiologie Spatiales (MEDES) in Toulouse, France, the SAFE project attempts answer the question: how good are satellites for providing early warning of disease outbreaks? To explore this, SAFE conducted training exercise in November 2007 on the Greek island of Crete (http://www. …

Transnationalism from below: initial responses by British Kashmiris to the South Asia earthquake of 2005

The earthquake that shook Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan, and India on 8 October 2005 had major consequences for the region in all areas of life. An assessment of the damage and loss of life and need for relief is ongoing. This article examines the transnational fund-raising effort that arose in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. By offering a particular case study of the fund-raising effort in the north of England, we hope to illustrate the general mechanisms by which aid was collected among diaspora communities. Our contention is that diaspora fund-raising and distribution was initially able to respond in a more direct and effective manner than states and non-governmental organisation. The reason for this was the utilisation of existing active and hitherto dormant transnational links.

WHO coordinates health provision for quake survivors

Within hours of a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the Indonesian provinces of and Central Java on May 27, a massive relief effort, comprising both Indonesian and overseas organizations, got under way. A fortnight after the quake, approximately 75 international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and more than 10 government teams and UN agencies had sent personnel and supplies to the stricken region to support the Indonesian Government's own relief efforts. role was as the lead agency of the Health Cluster, set up in June 2005 as one of the key components of wider humanitarian reforms within the UN. At the country level the Health Cluster's role is to coordinate the health response. Cluster system proved successful in the South Asia earthquake in 2005. In Indonesia, this approach helped to involve most of the NGOs engaged in relief efforts in efforts to assist the two provincial health authorities, as they grappled with the aftermath of the quake: over 5700 dead, nearly 38 000 injured, 470 000 dwellings damaged or destroyed and 1.5 million people affected. WHO's main role is supporting the Indonesian Government in its work responding to the emergency situation, particularly on human health-related concerns, and WHO has been in close relationship in supporting the work of the Ministry of Health (MoH), says Dr Arturo Pesigan, Head of the Health Cluster in Yogyakarta. Unlike the December 2004 tsunami which devastated the province of Aceh, the area affected by the 27 May earthquake was far more localized. It has been easier to obtain accurate numbers related to its effect on the population and therefore an easier task for government agencies and NGOs to get aid to where it is needed. rapid government response is also, arguably, related to the region's importance, whereas Aceh is on the periphery, the island of Java represents the heart of Indonesia and is the spiritual and cultural centre of the island. Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces have not been overwhelmed. At the national level the earthquake was not even declared a national disaster. Indonesia didn't call for international assistance, but welcomes it, says Charlie Higgins, the UN's Area Coordinator in Yogyakarta. The government rapidly moved in 6000 health workers from within Indonesia to reinforce local structures, he adds. experience of responding to the aftermath of the tsunami--although on a much larger scale to the disaster caused by the May earthquake--stood WHO in good stead to respond to the current emergency, says Pesigan, who is also the Regional Advisor for Emergency and Humanitarian Action from Office for the Western Pacific Region. Like we did in the tsunami, WHO supported the immediate establishment of the crisis centre for the provincial level health response. It was crucial to establish good coordination mechanisms with the government and all the players in the health sector. WHO mobilized its team within a few hours. Vehicles and essential supplies were immediately dispatched. Preparedness strengthened from the tsunami experience facilitated the establishment of a logistics system that readily provided personnel, transport, equipment, medicines and supplies and support was immediately provided from the country office, the regional office and headquarters, Pesigan explains. WHO-coordinated health response is split into several main areas: hospital and medical services; communicable disease surveillance and response; immunization; logistics and health supplies; medical emergency supplies management; mental health, water/sanitation and reproductive health; and maternal and child health. …

Coordinating disaster relief after the South Asia earthquake

Coordinating disaster relief after the South Asia earthquake

Reverse Quality Management

The British Columbia Ministry of Health's Framework for Core Functions in Public Health was the catalyst that inspired this review of best practices in health emergency management. The fieldwork was conducted in the fall of 2005 between hurricane Katrina and the South Asia earthquake. These tragedies, shown on 24/7 television news channels, provided an eyewitness account of disaster management, or lack of it, in our global village world. It is not enough to just have best practices in place. There has to be a governance structure that can be held accountable. This review of best practices lists actions in support of an emergency preparedness culture at the management, executive, and corporate/governance levels of the organization. The methodology adopted a future quality management approach of the emergency management process to identify the corresponding performance indictors that correlated with practices or sets of practices. Identifying best practice performance indictors needed to conduct a future quality management audit is described as reverse quality management. Best practices cannot be assessed as stand-alone criteria; they are influenced by organizational culture. The defining of best practices was influenced by doubt about defining a practice it is hoped will never be performed, medical staff involvement, leadership, and an appreciation of the resources required and how they need to be managed. Best practice benchmarks are seen as being related more to "measures" of performance defined locally and agreed on by 2 or more parties rather than to achieving industrial standards. Relating practices to performance indicators and then to benchmarks resulted in the development of a Health Emergency Management Best Practices Matrix that lists specific practice in the different phases of emergency management.

President's Column: The Tsunamis put Injury Prevention on the Public Health Agenda

The South Asia earthquake and tsunamis in December 2004 have shown the world the importance of international collaboration in the field of public health. In a globalising world, all countries seem to be involved, even when the catastrophe hits at the other side of the planet. The tsunamis caused the death of 300.000 persons and millions of injured. Survivors also have to deal with the outbreaks of diseases. Diarrhoeal diseases and malaria are among the main communicable disease threats for populations living in tsunami affected areas. Activities for prevention, preparedness and control of epidemic diarrhoeal diseases including cholera and typhoid fever therefore are among the public health issues which have to be given priority in the near future.1 In late December, EUPHA and the Norwegian Society of Public Health sent the first contributions to emergency relief organisations in areas of South Asia affected by the tsunamis. In January 2005 we sent money to Darfur in West Sudan as well. These contributions were financed by the prize reduction obtained from the company responsible for the food and service at the conference dinner Friday 8th October at the Annual EUPHA meeting in Oslo. I would like to encourage other public health associations in Europe and the rest of the world to give their support as well. The tsunamis have shown us again that the health and safety of the population are of great importance to achieve a sustainable development. The afflicted areas not only have to deal with the human side, but also with rebuilding the environment. In addition, the tsunamis will cause a large loss of income from tourism, fishing and all related activities.2 The tsunamis have given us an important lesson for the future. Safety promotion and injury prevention need to be on the public health agenda, …