Organization and implementation of mass medical rescue after an earthquake

Over the past century, over 40 earthquakes measuring ≥7 on the Richter scale have occurred worldwide; of those, 10 took place in China and killed 600,000 people(accounting for 53% of the total number of global deaths due to earthquakes). On May 12, 2008, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province. In this disaster, 69,000 people were killed, 18,000 people were reported missing, and 37,000 people were injured, including more than 10,000 who were seriously injured. Trauma was the most commonly observed type of injury, with fractures accounting for 74% of all injury cases. On April 14, 2010, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Yushu, in Qinghai Province. In this disaster, 2,698 people were killed, 270 people were reported missing, and 11,000 people were injured, including more than 3,100 who were seriously injured. Fracture injury accounted for 58.4% of all injury cases. After each earthquake, the Chinese Army Medical Services responded promptly, according to the previously established guidelines, and sent out elite forces to the disaster areas, with the objectives of organizing, coordinating and participating in an efficient and evidence-based medical rescue effort. After the Wenchuan earthquake, 397 mobile medical service teams including 7,061 health workers were sent to the disaster areas. A total of 69,000 casualties were treated, and 22,000 surgeries were performed. After the Yushu earthquake, 25 mobile medical service teams involving 2,025 health workers were sent. They performed 1,635 surgeries and created an astounding outcome of "zero deaths" in the aftermath of the earthquake during their treatment of casualties in a high-altitude region. Within a week after each earthquake, the military teams rescued approximately 60% of the total number of rescued casualties and evacuated approximately 80% of the total number of evacuated sick or wounded victims, playing a critical role and making invaluable contributions to earthquake relief. The experience and lessons learned from the rescue efforts of the Chinese military after the two earthquakes have highlighted several key aspects in emergency medical rescue: 1) medical rescue theories must be updated; 2) military-civilian cooperation must be stressed; 3) professional rescue forces must be strengthened; 4) supporting facilities must be improved; and 5) international exchanges and cooperation must be deepened.

Post-disaster medical rescue strategy in tropical regions

BACKGROUND:Earthquakes,floods,droughts,storms,mudslides,landslides,and forest wild fires are serious threats to human lives and properties.The present study aimed to study the environmental characteristics and pathogenic traits,recapitulate experiences,and augment applications of medical reliefs in tropical regions.METHODS:Analysis was made on work and projects of emergency medical rescue,based on information and data collected from 3 emergency medical rescue missions of China International Search and Rescue Team to overseas earthquakes and tsunamis aftermaths in tropical disaster regions — Indonesia-Aceh,Indonesia-Yogyakarta,and Haiti-Port au Prince.RESULTS:Shock,infection and heat stroke were frequently encountered in addition to outbreaks of infectious diseases,skin diseases,and diarrhea during post-disaster emergency medical rescue in tropical regions.CONCLUSIONS:High temperature,high humidity,and proliferation of microorganisms and parasites are the characteristics of tropical climate that impose strict requirements on the preparation of rescue work including selective team members suitable for a particular rescue mission and the provisioning of medical equipment and life support materials.The overseas rescue mission itself needs a scientific,efficient,simple workflow for providing efficient emergency medical assistance.Since shock and infection are major tasks in post-disaster treatment of severely injured victims in tropical regions,the prevention and diagnosis of hyperthermia,insect-borne infectious diseases,tropic skin diseases,infectious diarrhea,and pest harms of disaster victims and rescue team staff should be emphasized during the rescue operations.

Analysis on the Demand and Countermeasures of Air Ground Coordination in China’s Aviation Medical Rescue

Compared with ground first aid, aviation medical rescue has better advantages in mountain disaster relief, remote transfer and rapid medical rescue response, which is an effective supplement to ground medical first aid. China’s aviation medical rescue is in its infancy, compared with the level of developed countries there is a big gap. Based on the development and characteristics of aviation medical rescue in China, this paper combs the process of air-ground cooperative rescue, analyzes the demand and current situation of air-ground cooperative rescue in aviation medical rescue in China, and puts forward some countermeasures to improve the ability of aviation medical rescue in China.

Stochastic Petri Net Based Modeling of Emergency Medical Rescue Processes During Earthquakes

The post-disaster emergency medical rescue(EMR) is critical for people’s lives. This paper presents a stochastic Petri net(SPN) model based on the process of the rescue structure and a Markov chain model(MC), which is applied to the optimization of the EMR process, with the aim of identifying the key activities of EMR. An isomorphic MC model is developed for measuring and evaluating the time performance of the EMR process during earthquakes with the data of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.This paper provides a mathematical approach to simulate the process and to evaluate the efficiency of EMR. Simultaneously, the expressions of the steady state probabilities of this system under various states are obtained based on the MC, and the variations of the probabilities are analyzed by changing the firing rates for every transition. Based on the concrete data of the event, the authors find the most time consuming and critical activities for EMR decisions. The model results show that the key activities can improve the efficiency of medical rescue, providing decision-makers with rescue strategies during the large scale earthquake.

Medical mountain rescue in the Yushu Earthquake: Have lessons been learned?

On April 14,2010,an earthquake reaching Richter scale 7.1 struck Jiegu Town of Yushu,a mountain rescue operation promptly launched. All injurers had a direct assess to take medical care,and were immediately rescued and rapidly evacuated by air to Xining and Golmud at lower altitudes and admitted to advanced hospitals. Almost all of the injurers have been completely recovered. Yushu Earthquake was one of the highest earthquakes in the world,with a high incidence of acute altitude illness,which was observed in about 80 % of the lowland rescuers at an altitude of 4 000 m."Rescue the rescuers"became the major task of Qinghai-Tibetan rescue teams,all the severe patients were rapidly descended to Xining and treated promptly and effectively. The outcome was excellent,all patients survived. After the earthquake,it is a long and arduous task to reconstruct what has been destroyed. Medical teams continue to work in the Yushu Earthquake area because about 30 000 workers and carders are now here for rebuilding the earthquake center. Thus the prevention and treatment of altitude illness are still critical tasks for medical teams. Although all the fights are successful,there are more experiences and lessons we have learned from the medical mountain rescue during the earthquake and the reconstruction,and reports here are to sum up our experiences from the medical mountain rescue operation in Yushu Earthquake and draw the lessons that we should learn. With the increasing of earthquake probability occurring in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,we also should prepare against earthquake disasters and for further rescue training in the high mountains.

Comparison of Emergency Management Strategies for Nosocomial Infections Between Two Earthquakes

Aim:Based on the experience of the 5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake and the 8.8 Jiuzhaigou Earthquake,the emergency management strategies for nosocomial infections were compared between the two earthquakes.The experience shared in the present study provides a guideline for the emergency medical rescue of future earthquake.Methods:The patients involved in this study were those injured in the earthquake and admitted to the hospital for treatment.As an earthquake relief center,the hospital participated in the emergency rescue work of the two recent major earthquakes in western China.Review analysis was carried out in the hospital's infection control experience adopted in the two major earthquakes.It was emphasized that,targeting the characteristics and difficulties in the prevention and control of nosocomial infection,different innovative infection control emergency strategies were adopted by the frontline disaster relief hospitals,under the special circumstances and medical conditions in an earthquake disaster.Results:According to the different focus of infection control in the two earthquakes,different hospital infection control strategies were adopted,and the incidence of nosocomial infections was effectively controlled.