Experience of a Korean Disaster Medical Assistance Team in Sri Lanka after the South Asia Tsunami.
10.3346/jkms.2006.21.1.143
- Author:
Young Ho KWAK
1
;
Sang Do SHIN
;
Kyu Seok KIM
;
Woon Yong KWON
;
Gil Joon SUH
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. suhgil@snu.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Natural Disasters;
Relief Work;
Patient Care Team;
Wounds and Injuries
- MeSH:
Adolescent;
Adult;
Aged;
Asia, Southeastern;
Child;
Child, Preschool;
Emergency Medical Services/organization & administration/statistics & numerical data;
Female;
Geography;
Humans;
Infant;
Infant, Newborn;
International Cooperation;
Korea;
Male;
*Medical Assistance;
Middle Aged;
*Natural Disasters;
Patients/classification/*statistics & numerical data;
*Relief Work;
Retrospective Studies;
Sri Lanka
- From:Journal of Korean Medical Science
2006;21(1):143-150
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
On 26 December 2004, a huge tsunami struck the coasts of South Asian countries and it resulted in 29,729 deaths and 16,665 injuries in Sri Lanka. This study characterizes the epidemiology, clinical data and time course of the medical problems seen by a Korean disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) during its deployment in Sri Lanka, from 2 to 8 January 2005. The team consisting of 20 surgical and medical personnel began to provide care 7 days after tsunami in the southern part of Sri Lanka, the Matara and Hambantota districts. During this period, a total of 2,807 patients visited our field clinics with 3,186 chief complaints. Using the triage and refer system, we performed 3,231 clinical examinations and made 3,259 diagnoses. The majority of victims had medical problems (82.4%) rather than injuries (17.6%), and most conditions (92.1%) were mild enough to be discharged after simple management. There were also substantial needs of surgical managements even in the second week following the tsunami. Our study also suggests that effective triage system, self-sufficient preparedness, and close collaboration with local authorities may be the critical points for the foreign DMAT activity.
