Diary of Medical Mission Trip Videos Dealing with the Catastrophic Earthquake in Haiti in 2010

What should be done immediately after a catastrophe such as an earthquake?

The first thing that should be done in the event of an earthquake should be the mobilization of several rescues and humanitarian experts to help in rescue exercise. At the same time, a temporary emergency rescue center near the site of the disaster. Emergency rescue teams in ambulances and paramedics should be mobilized to arrive the area within no time. The rescue center at the site should then sort the victims with the critically injured being airlifted for specialized medical attention. Having rescued all the victims and recovered the dead bodies, a specialized treatment center should be set free-of-charge to cater for serious conditions such as spinal cord problems, severe burns, and mentally affected patients.

What do you think should be the next step after the emergency rescue?

The government should set a center to carry out DNA body identification and facilitate burial of the bodies especially in developing countries such as Haiti.

How can you handle the families of the deceased and the direct victims (injured)?

The families of the deceased and the direct victims should be relocated to secure, and safer areas and their basic human wants met. Care should be taken when handling these family members as they are likely to suffer from

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD), anxiety, and depression.

What are some of the residual effect that the victims might suffer?

Care should be taken when handling the injured as they are likely to face long-term effects such as trauma, some may become life-long cripples and respiratory problems.

How should a nation stay prepared to handle future disasters?

The government should invest in research to ensure that earthquakes are predicted and people evacuated in time.

Emergency rescue systems and ambulances should be put in place to ensure that such disasters are responded to immediately. Local search and rescue (SAR) should be strengthened together with training the general public on how to respond to such disasters to reduce the number of deaths and severity of injuries. Finally, community health workers should be decentralized and strengthened to improve service delivery (Bayard, 2010).

References

Bayard, D. (2010). Haiti earthquake relief, phase two”long-term needs and local resources. New England Journal of Medicine, 362(20), 1858-1861.

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