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Importance of Team Experience and Coordination in Disaster Response: Building Collapse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2021

Semih Korkut
Affiliation:
Health Sciences University, Kartal Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Kartal, Istanbul, Turkey
Selim Altinarik
Affiliation:
Provincial Health Directorate of Istanbul, Department of Emergency Health Services Bakirkoy, Istanbul, Turkey
Osman Türk
Affiliation:
Provincial Health Directorate of Istanbul, Department of Emergency Health Services Bakirkoy, Istanbul, Turkey
Fatih Türkmen
Affiliation:
Provincial Health Directorate of Istanbul, Department of Emergency Health Services Bakirkoy, Istanbul, Turkey
Yusuf Uğurlu
Affiliation:
Provincial Health Directorate of Istanbul, Department of Emergency Health Services Bakirkoy, Istanbul, Turkey
Erdal Yilmaz
Affiliation:
Health Sciences University, Kartal Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Kartal, Istanbul, Turkey
Hasan Mutlu
Affiliation:
Provincial Health Directorate of Istanbul, Department of Emergency Health Services Bakirkoy, Istanbul, Turkey
Kenan Ahmet Türkdoğan*
Affiliation:
Health Sciences University, Bagcılar Training and Research Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Bağcılar, Istanbul, Turkey
*
Corresponding author: Kenan Ahmet Turkdogan, Email: drturkdogan@gmail.com.

Abstract

Objective:

The objective of this study was to determine whether coordination of prehospital emergency health services and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (DEMP) and being prepared for disasters, such as building collapses, allow quick evaluation and fast intervention.

Methods:

The information flow, hierarchy, treatment, and rehabilitation processes, and rescue organization and planning during the rescue attempt for 35 people who needed help due to this building collapse were reviewed.

Results:

Of the 43 people who lived in this 8-story building, 35 were inside the building during the collapse; 40% of them were assessed as injured and 60% as exitus. Almost two-thirds (64.3%) of the injured individuals who were rescued were women. The mean duration until rescue was 330 (57.0-512.0) min.

Conclusions:

Leading and important factors that can increase the success rate in search and rescue interventions are informing official authorities as first early warning by individuals who can clearly define the situation, early security measures by security forces arriving before the health and search-rescue teams, accurate identification of estimated numbers of injured victims, and identifying and informing appropriate hospitals which victims rescued from the debris will be transferred to there.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2021

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