Collegiate neurosurgery in disaster and mass medical emergencies: lessons learned from mexico.

Abstract

their occurrence may rise through the years. For this reason, efforts like the creation of the world atlas of natural disaster risk, which maps the distribution of specific disaster hazards worldwide, help to improve policies, and local actions (27). During the year 2013, natural disasters and social conflicts affected about 148.2 million people (8). The United Nations reported on the devastating consequences of unpredictable, unpreventable, and impersonating disasters. Over the last two decades, these events had an economic impact of around 2 █ INTRODUCTION A disaster is a natural or human-generated event that seriously disrupts the functioning of society in a sudden way, causing human, material, and ecosystem losses (Table I). It also creates a significant short-term increase in the demand for emergency services, requiring extraordinary measures to address the situation that tendsto fall short because demand generally exceeds responsiveness (10). No community is exempt of incidents classified as disasters, and Every year, natural or people-generated disasters disrupt the functioning of society, causing human, and material loses, which lead to an increase in the demand for medical attention. In the morning of September 19, 2017, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City and four other cities, leaving around 19 million people affected and 331 dead. Although the medical response was timely, most of the efforts fell short because demand exceeded responsiveness. This incident evidenced the challenges that we have as caregivers with mass medical emergency, and the need for direct and well-structured interventions of professional-medical associations in the immediate response, on both in-site and in-hospital settings. The aim of this paper is to analyze how we respond to these medical emergencies and what new strategies have been proposed in order to identify the weaknesses and areas of improvement, as well as to restructure our methods of emergency intervention. We searched all the information in both official institutional and social media with a public sanitary scope. We submitted this information to a descriptive qualitative analysis and compared with official information and management. We found an important role for social media as a means of communication and civil organization. Collegiate medical societies, such as neurosurgeons, showed a limited reach, little on-site intervention, and poor use of social media and other strategies to improve the response. Finally, we propose how we may approach these mass medical emergencies in a better way, taking advantage of new technologies and strategies.

Medical Response to the February 6, 2023, Earthquakes in Hatay: Challenges Faced in the Deadliest Disaster in the History of Türkiye

“…Collecting information in a database across the affected area can aid decision-making and serve as a tool to evaluate activities during the disaster after the crisis. 12 Literature reveals that, even if disaster response activities are launched rapidly, the date and location of the earthquake, as well as the destruction of essential infrastructure, might result in insufficient reaction time and inefficiencies in resource mobilization. 34 The Kahramanmaraş earthquakes caused widespread devastation and severely destroyed infrastructure in 11 provinces.…”

“…Similarly, Ramos-Zúñiga et al noted that during the 2017 Mexico earthquake, an increase in the number of informal volunteers who arrived with a strong sense of solidarity in the face of the disaster could occasionally prevent qualified personnel from working. 12 Disasters where there is a significant imbalance between demand and capacity, such as the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, highlight the importance of both the volunteer system and the coordination of the community "response" in disaster response.…”

“…Collecting information in a database across the affected area can aid decision-making and serve as a tool to evaluate activities during the disaster after the crisis. 12…”

“…10 On-site medical interventions focus on prioritizing casualties and providing immediate emergency care to survivable victims, pain relief and subsequent intervention as needed, and ensuring stabilization and patient transportation. 12…”