A rapid post-disaster surveillance model enabling outbreak detection and healthcare response following earthquakes on Kefalonia island, Greece, February–May 2014

The Impact of Earthquakes on Public Health: A Narrative Review of Infectious Diseases in the Post-Disaster Period Aiming to Disaster Risk Reduction

“…Upper respiratory tract infections were observed quite frequently in the short-term period after disasters induced by earthquakes generated in several continents, including North America (the 1994 Northridge [ 68 , 69 ], 2001 El Salvador [ 70 , 71 ], and 2010 Haiti earthquakes [ 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 ], Europe (the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake [ 78 ] and 2014 Cephalonia Island earthquakes [ 79 ]), and Asia (the 1995 Kobe [ 80 ], 1999 Chi-Chi [ 81 , 82 ], 2003 Bam [ 83 , 84 ], 2004 Sumatra-Andaman [ 85 ], 2005 Kashmir [ 86 , 87 ], 2009 Sumatra [ 88 ], 2009 Samoa [ 85 ], 2011 Tōhoku [ 85 , 89 ], 2013 Lushan [ 90 , 91 ], 2013 Bohol [ 92 , 93 ], 2015 Gorkha [ 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 ] and 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes [ 100 ]) ( Figure 2 ). Most of the earthquake-affected people lived in overcrowded evacuation shelters, with inadequate air ventilation, unsafe drinking water, and poor personal hygiene being among the possible predisposing factors of contracting respiratory infectious diseases [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 80 , 81 , 82 ,…”

“…It was affected by the early 2014 earthquakes, on January 26 and February 3 with Mw = 6.1 and Mw = 5.9, respectively. The earthquakes were generated during the winter period characterized by low temperatures and rainfall for several days between the two events, leading to an increase of respiratory infection cases [ 79 ].…”

“…Waterborne and foodborne diseases are mainly caused by the ingestion of water or food contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, and parasites) derived from human or animal feces. Gastrointestinal infections associated with earthquakes have been reported following the 1980 Irpinia (Italy) [ 102 ], 1999 Izmit (Turkey) [ 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 ], 1999 Chi-Chi (Taiwan) [ 81 , 82 ], 1999 Armenia (Colombia) [ 109 ], 2001 El Salvador [ 70 , 71 ], 2003 Bam (Iran) [ 83 , 84 ], 2004 Indian Ocean (Indonesia) [ 110 ], 2005 Kashmir (Pakistan) [ 87 , 111 ], 2009 L’Aquila (Italy) [ 112 ], 2010 Haiti [ 77 , 113 ], 2011 Van (Turkey) [ 114 ], 2014 Cephalonia earthquakes [ 79 ], 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) [ 94 , 98 , 115 , 116 ], and 2016 Kumamoto (Japan) earthquakes [ 100 ] ( Figure 3 ). More details on the water- and food-borne infectious diseases transmitted during the post-earthquake period in earthquake-affected areas are presented in brief in Table 3 and in detail below.…”

“…Except from the respiratory infections, the 2014 Cephalonia Island (Greece) earthquakes also resulted in a gastrointestinal outbreak comprising 22 gastroenteritis cases among soldiers that developed diarrhea and abdominal pain 6–7 h after consuming a meal prepared by the same catering company. However, no clinical sample was collected for laboratory testing [ 79 ].…”