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Be Prepared! — Lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Uehara, Naruo |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | Michael Lechat, a pioneer of disaster epidemiology, defined natural disasters as “ecological disruptions exceeding the adjustment capacity of the affected community.”1 The impact of a disaster is determined by the destructive power of the natural phenomenon and the human capability to cope with it. The science of disaster prevention has been concerned with issues such as architecture and civil engineering, mainly investing in physical prevention; in contrast, public health science is concerned with disaster preparedness, which is meant to provide effective responses in order to reduce the avoidable death, suffering, and disability directly or indirectly caused by a disaster. In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, I was assigned to help with disaster response and health relief activities as a medical coordinator and advisor for the Public Health Department of the Miyagi Prefectural Government. I was in charge of the Support Office for Health Relief Operations, located on the 16th floor of the prefectural government building, where I served for 2 months. Then, I voluntarily continued the same function at my office in Tohoku University until August of the same year. The primary lesson I learned through these experiences was that in post-disaster situations, it is very hard to do what has not been prepared for in advance. Conventional disaster response plans and manuals lean heavily on mass-casualty management in earthquakes, but such a severe and extensive disaster—one caused by the tsunami that we faced this time—was not anticipated. What had been prepared, based on the lessons of the Han-Shin Awaji Earthquake in 1995, were actually implemented to some degree, such as the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) program, mental care teams, and support for continuation of dialysis treatment. However, other health relief operations, or even a coordination system for disaster health management, had not been prepared at the prefectural and national levels. It was extremely difficult to initiate and implement what were neither planned nor prepared for in advance in the midst of such a chaotic situation. Nonetheless, physicians, nurses, public health nurses, and other civil workers who themselves were disaster victims fought hard to help other survivors. Also, many health professionals from all over Japan voluntarily rushed to the disaster areas to join in the health relief activities for the affected people. The danger due to the radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant accident was of considerable concern at the time; therefore, choosing to be on the ground at local disaster sites in the Tohoku region must have taken much courage and determination. I am also deeply grateful to our peers who provided aid and heartening encouragement from overseas. At the same time, I regret that, if we had been better prepared in advance, their enthusiasm would have reached the affected people more effectively, and could have reduced avoidable death and the pain. I sincerely hope that the lessons we learned from this disaster will be used for the improvement of health disaster preparedness in Japan as well as in other countries. Be Prepared! — Lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.med.or.jp/english/journal/pdf/2013_02/118_126.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
