China ; Disaster Medicine ; Disasters ; statistics & numerical data ; Earthquakes ; statistics & numerical data ; First Aid ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Mass Casualty Incidents ; statistics & numerical data ; Rescue Work

BACKGROUND: Natural disasters have long-term negative impacts on the health and socioenvironmental conditions of a population, affecting the physical environment as well as the relationships within the community, including social networks. Mothers in post-disaster communities may have difficulty receiving social support not only from family members and relatives but also from members of their community, such as people in their neighborhoods. This study focused on mothers with infants and preschool-aged children in post-disaster communities. The associations of social support with sociodemographic characteristics and socioenvironmental conditions related to child-rearing among mothers in post-disaster communities were assessed. METHODS: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in October 2015 in 988 households in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The data collected on sociodemographic and socioenvironmental characteristics included the presence of pre-disaster acquaintances in the neighborhood and social support for child-rearing. The associations of sociodemographic and socioenvironmental characteristics with social support were examined. RESULTS: We analyzed 215 completed questionnaires from mothers living in different houses from those they lived in before the disaster to reflect continuous relationships with people from the pre-disaster communities. Social support was significantly associated with infant sex, extended family, support obtained from relatives not living together, pre-disaster acquaintances, use of child support resources, and no perceived difficulties in child-rearing. In addition, the presence of pre-disaster acquaintances was associated with categories of mental/physical place of comfort and child-rearing support, with adjusted odds ratios of 1.88 (95% CI 1.03-3.44) and 2.84 (95% CI 1.46-5.52) compared with mothers who did not have any pre-disaster acquaintances. CONCLUSIONS Factors associated with the obtainment of social support in child-rearing among mothers in post-disaster communities were attributed not only to mothers themselves and family members but also to socioenvironmental factors such as the presence of pre-disaster acquaintances. The presence of pre-disaster acquaintances promoted rich social support in child-rearing in post-disaster communities. When reconstructing a community following changes in residence location after a disaster, the pre-disaster relationships among the community dwellers should be considered from the viewpoint of child-rearing support.
Child Rearing ; Child, Preschool ; Disasters ; statistics & numerical data ; Earthquakes ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Japan ; Male ; Mothers ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Social Support ; Tsunamis ; statistics & numerical data

Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Humans ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; epidemiology ; Suicide ; statistics & numerical data

PURPOSE: The Iri station explosion that occurred in 1977 was a major social disaster in Korea, caused by a fire in a train equipped with explosives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the social disaster adaptation experiences of railroad workers. METHODS: This study was based on qualitative research using phenomenological methodology. Participants were six railroad workers who experienced the Iri station explosion. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with individual workers from March to June, 2018. The data analysis method was based on Colaizzi's approach. RESULTS: Experiences of railroad workers were categorized into 12 themes and the following 6 theme clusters: (1) Anxiety due to the extreme vibration and crash, (2) Terror regarding the horrible situation that one cannot face, (3) Anger about the cause of the explosion and a sense of relief about survival, (4) Confusion regarding different rumors, (5) Various efforts to return to daily life, and (6) Trauma that continues to exist. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study recommend that railroad organizations and managers should pay attention to enhance disaster preparedness and develop organizational disaster coping guidelines for members. The results of this study can help us to better understand the various aspects of the Iri station explosion of 1977.
Anger ; Anxiety ; Disasters ; Explosions ; Explosive Agents ; Fires ; Korea ; Methods ; Qualitative Research ; Railroads ; Statistics as Topic ; Vibration

OBJECTIVETo investigate the sanitary working status in the districts for locating residents after earthquake in Dujiangyan municipality.

METHODSSome immediate measures were taken after the earthquake including water source surveillance, restoring immunization system and epidemic surveillance. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to collect information in 107 locating districts of 18 towns.

RESULTSGenerally, the sanitary working status was good. Temporary sheds in most districts were Tents (75.70%, 81/107) and simple sheds (19.63%, 21/107), and 69.16% (74/107) districts could use water supply and 94.39% (101/107) arrange specialized persons to disinfect the environment and kill pests. The fly density was 2 per eye-view. The proportions for the correct responds to health knowledge, action adopted and attitude of residents were all above 90%. According to the epidemic surveillance system and mobile syndrome surveillance system in disaster area, there was no increasing trend for the incidences of contagious diseases.

CONCLUSION20 days after earthquake, the whole situation of disease prevention in disaster area is stable.

China ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Emergency Medical Services ; statistics & numerical data ; Health Care Surveys ; Humans ; Sanitation ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Universal Precautions

The objective of study was to evaluate the incidence and mortality rates of disasters and mass casualty incidents (MCIs) over the past 10 yr in the administrative system of Korea administrative system and to examine their relationship with population characteristics. This was a population-based cross-sectional study. We calculated the nationwide incidence, as well as the crude mortality and injury incidence rates, of disasters and MCIs. The data were collected from the administrative database of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and from provincial fire departments from January 2000 to December 2009. A total of 47,169 events were collected from the NEMA administrative database. Of these events, 115 and 3,079 cases were defined as disasters and MCIs that occurred in Korea, respectively. The incidence of technical disasters/MCIs was approximately 12.7 times greater than that of natural disasters/MCIs. Over the past 10 yr, the crude mortality rates for disasters and MCIs were 2.36 deaths per 100,000 persons and 6.78 deaths per 100,000 persons, respectively. The crude injury incidence rates for disasters and MCIs were 25.47 injuries per 100,000 persons and 152 injuries per 100,000 persons, respectively. The incidence and mortality of disasters/MCIs in Korea seem to be low compared to that of trend around the world.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Databases, Factual ; Disasters/*statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mass Casualty Incidents/*mortality ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology

OBJECTIVETo study the immediate and long-term effects of disasters caused by floods on residents health status.

METHODSStratified sampling by ranks of flood disaster occurred in 1996 and 1998, flood disaster areas and control areas were carried out. A retrospective study was also carried out to study all diseases involved during 1996 - 1999.

RESULTSThe incident rates of acute infectious disease in flooding areas in 1996 and 1998 were both higher than those of non-flooding areas (863.181/100 000 and 736.591/100 000, respectively). But there was no different between the incident rate of the first years in flooding areas and that of non-flooding areas. The prevalence rates of 8 kinds of chronic diseases related to circulatory system, nervous system, digestive system, injury and poisonous diseases in flooding areas were also higher than that in the non-flooding areas. The highest incidence rates of most diseases were in the mountainous flooding areas, followed by areas collapsed by flooding, and the lowest were seen in soakedareas by floods. The incidence rates of intestinal infectious diseases and respiratory infectious diseases were lower in areas where prevention and control measures were weak.

CONCLUSIONFlood could lead to the increase of incidence rates both on acute infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases. Interventions on non-infectious diseases should also be enforced to stop the epidemics when preventing and controlling acute infectious disease.

Acute Disease ; China ; epidemiology ; Chronic Disease ; Communicable Diseases ; epidemiology ; Disasters ; Health Status ; Humans ; Residence Characteristics ; statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: This study aimed to (1) explore current levels of quality of life, depression, resilience and social support and (2) investigate factors associated with quality of life among parents who lost children in the Sewol ferry disaster. METHODS: Data for this descriptive and correlation study was collected from December 2016 to June 2017. Structured questionnaires were completed by 114 parents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: Lower levels of quality of life were reported by parents with no current occupation, who considered emotional support by others as not helpful, not disclosing self as family of a victim, experiencing change in social activities related to the disaster, and not participating in bereavement activities with other families (all p values <.05). Factors associated with quality of life were depression (β=−.53) and resilience (β=.26) and explained 48.0% variance (F=50.37, p<.001), while social support was not a significant factor. CONCLUSION: Our study findings provide fundamental information on the mental health status of families of the Sewol ferry disaster victims. Nursing interventions to improve quality of life of parents who lost their children in the disaster should emphasize both managing depression and improving resilience.
Bereavement ; Child ; Depression ; Disaster Victims ; Disasters ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Mental Health ; Nursing ; Occupations ; Parents ; Quality of Life ; Resilience, Psychological ; Statistics as Topic

OBJECTIVETo discuss the diagnosis and treatment of the crush syndrome in the earthquake.

METHODSThirty-five patients with crush syndrome caused by earthquake were involved the retrospective study. The role of nutritional support, active wound treatment and hemodialysis on the patients' recovery was observed.

RESULTSThe function of the heart and kidneys were gradually improved by the planned removal of the necrotic tissue, which laid a foundation for the further repair of the wound.

CONCLUSIONThe removal of necrotic tissue, which can decrease the toxic absorption, will improve the success rate for treatment of the crush syndrome patients when being assisted with the hemodialysis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; China ; Crush Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology ; surgery ; therapy ; Disasters ; statistics & numerical data ; Earthquakes ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Renal Dialysis ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo develop a public health index related to the comprehensive assessment on the impact caused by floods.

METHODSA Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) theory was used to establish the initial evaluation system on the impact of floods. Modified-Delphi process was used to screen and determine the indicators and their weights while synthetical scored method was used to establish the comprehensive assessment model. Percentile was used to differentiate the degree of floods. Finally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis were used to test the differentiability of the model for different degree of floods and the independence of these indicators.

RESULTSThe model of comprehensive assessment on the impact of floods was set up, including six first-ranking indicators and twenty-four sub-indicators. The values of comprehensive assessment were divided into five grades by the percentiles. Verified results indicated that there were significant difference among the five grades (F = 76.11, P < 0.01) and all indicators were independent.

CONCLUSIONAn index of comprehensive assessment on the impact of floods was established, which could be used to evaluate the impact of floods and to differentiate the degree of flood, which seemed to have the characteristic of reliability, comprehensiveness and practicability.

Analysis of Variance ; China ; Delphi Technique ; Disasters ; Health Status Indicators ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Public Health ; standards ; statistics & numerical data ; Research ; statistics & numerical data ; Research Design