Introduction:Disasters cause severe disruption to socio-economic, infrastructural, and environmental aspects of community and nation. While the impact of disasters is strongly felt by those directly affected, they also have significant impacts on the mental and physical health of relief/recovery workers and volunteers. Variations in the nature and scale of disasters necessitate different approaches to risk management and hazard reduction during the response and recovery phases.Method:Published articles (2010-2017) on the quantitative and quantitative relationship between disasters and the physical and mental health of relief/recovery workers and volunteers were systematically collected and reviewed. A total of 162 relevant studies were identified. Physical injuries and mental health impacts were categorized into immediate, short-term, and chronic conditions. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken to explore the health risks and injuries encountered by disaster relief workers and volunteers, and to identify the factors contributing to these and relating mitigation strategies.Results:There were relatively few studies into this issue. However, the majority of the scrutinized articles highlighted the dependence of nature and scope of injuries with the disaster type and the types of responders, while the living and working environment and socio-economic standing also had significant influence on health outcomes.Conclusion:A conceptual framework derived from the literature review clearly illustrated several critical elements that directly or indirectly cause damage to physical and mental health of disaster responders. Pre-disaster and post-disaster risk mitigation approaches may be employed to reduce the vulnerability of both volunteers and workers while understanding the identified stressors and their relationships.Khatri KC J, Fitzgerald G, Poudyal Chhetri MB. Health risks in disaster responders: a conceptual framework. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(2):209–216

Introduction:While the impact of disasters is strongly felt by those directly affected, they also have significant impact on the mental and physical health of rescue/relief workers and volunteers during the response phase of disaster management.Method:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 experts in the field of disaster management from Nepal, inquiring specifically about the impact of the 2015 mega-earthquake on the mental and physical health of rescue/relief workers and volunteers. A thematic approach was used to analyze the results. These were used to assess the applicability of a previously developed conceptual framework which illustrates the hazards and risk factors affecting disaster response workers and the related hazard mitigation approaches.Results:The findings suggested a relationship between the type of injuries to responders and the type of disaster, type of responder, and vulnerability of location. The conceptual framework derived from literature was verified for its applicability with a slight revision on analysis of experts’ opinion based on particular context and disaster setting. Technical skills of responders, social stigma, governance, and the socio-economic status of the affected nation were identified as critical influencing factors to heath injuries and could be minimized utilizing some specific or collective measures targeted at the aforementioned variables. Some geographic and weather-specific risks may be challenging to overcome.Conclusion:To prevent or minimize the hazards for disaster relief workers, it is vital to understand the variables that contribute to injuries. Risk minimization strategies should address these critical factors.

Nepal is highly vulnerable to a number of disasters for example: earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires, epidemics, avalanches, windstorms, hailstorms, lightning, glacier lake outburst floods, droughts and dangerous weather events. Among these disasters-earthquake is the most-scary and damaging. The effects of a disaster, whether natural or human induced, are often long lasting. The Gorkha earthquake of 25 April 2015 enormously affected human, socioeconomic and other multiple sectors and left deep scars mainly in the economy, livelihood and infrastructure of the country. Besides the natural factors, the damages from disasters in Nepal are in increasing trend due to the human activities and inadequate proactive legislations. Fundamentally, the weak structures have been found as the major cause of damage in earthquakes. This underlines the need for strict compliance of building codes. Thus, proactive disaster management legislation focusing on disaster preparedness is necessary. This paper analyses and shows the critical gaps and responsible factors that would contribute towards seismic risk reduction to enable various stakeholders to enhance seismic safety in Nepal. Additionally, this chapter aims to pinpoint the deficiencies in disaster management system in Nepal with reference to the devastating Gorkha earthquake and suggest appropriate policy and advanced technical measures for improvement.

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Nepal is prone to various types of natural as well as human induced disasters such as: earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires, epidemics, avalanches, windstorms, hailstorms, lightning, glacier lake outburst floods, droughts and extreme weather events. Among all these disastersearthquake is the most scary and damaging. The effects of a disaster, whether natural or human induced, are often far reaching. In addition to the natural factors, the losses from disasters are increasing due to the human activities and absence of proactive legislations. Fundamentally, the weak structures have been found as the major cause of infrastructure collapse in earthquakes. This emphasizes the need for strict compliance of town planning bye-laws and earthquake resistant building codes. Thus, proactive disaster management legislation focusing on disaster preparedness is necessary. This paper analyses the critical gaps responsible for emphasizing the seismic risk and of factors that would contribute towards seismic risk reduction to enable various stakeholders to address the critical areas for improving seismic safety in Nepal and other earthquake prone countries. Additionally, this paper aims to pinpoint the deficiencies in disaster management system in Nepal with reference to the devastating earthquake of 25 April 2015 and suggest appropriate policy and advanced technical measures.