A necklace of pearl in high altitude medicine and hypoxic physiology in Yushu Earthquake

During Yushu Earthquake,a large number of rescuers flocked to the mountainous quake areas. Under such a very specific circumstance,a high incidence of acute altitude illness was observed in rescuers who rapidly traveled from near sea level to an altitude of 4 000 m. It is evident that acute altitude illness leads to a significant human and economic toll,and also seriously influences the mountain rescue operation. So what does this teach us about mountain rescue in Yushu? Professor Wu Tianyi and many other authors collected shining points of the experiences and drew the lessons from the Yushu Earthquake into this special issue in Engineering Sciences which is like to thread pearl beads for a necklace. What readers learn from this special issue will have implications for the health and well-being of all high altitude populations all over the world.