Experience of a Korean Disaster Medical Assistance Team in Sri Lanka after the South Asia Tsunami

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)...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Korean medical science Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 143 - 150
Main Authors Kwak, Young Ho, Shin, Sang Do, Kim, Kyu Seok, Kwon, Woon Yong, Suh, Gil Joon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 01.02.2006
대한의학회
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN1011-8934
1598-6357
DOI10.3346/jkms.2006.21.1.143

Cover

More Information
Summary: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.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
G704-000345.2006.21.1.023
http://kmbase.medric.or.kr/Main.aspx?d=KMBASE&m=VIEW&i=0191120060210010143
ISSN:1011-8934
1598-6357
DOI:10.3346/jkms.2006.21.1.143