Citation

Chi CH. Journal of Acute Medicine 2019; 9(3): 81-82.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine, Publisher iPress)

DOI

10.6705/j.jacme.201909_9(3).0001

PMID

32995237 PMCID

Abstract

The Chi-Chi earthquake, also known as the "921 earthquake," struck Taiwan at 01:47:12 a.m. local time on September 21, 1999, leaving 2,415 people dead, 29 missing, and 11,305 injured. In 1999, there was no formal disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) nor a contemporary urban search and rescue (USAR) team available. Instead, domestic and international rescue teams arrived without coordination. Supplies were excessive but did not meet the needs of the population due to inadequate logistical man-agement. A lack of incident command systems (ICS) further exacerbated a chaotic scenario of poor team coordination and organization. Aftermath manage- ment was another issue. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had been mentioned, but in-depth data were not available in emergency medicine society. Con- flicts of interest between local medical facilities of disaster sites and medical teams of centers from other cities/counties occurred during the recovery phase. A more sophisticated and comprehensive understanding of disaster management was required. After the earthquake, Taiwan began to reinforce its disaster preparedness and response system by establishing a modern USAR team, initiating a DMAT in 2000, founding six regional emergency medical operation centers (REMOCs) in 2004, and creating a regional chemical and radiation accidents medical coordination center in 2005.1 In 2008, the DMAT, the regional chemical and radiation accidents coordination center, and the hospital incident command system (HICS) program were integrated into the REMOCs project, which was aimed at promoting resource uti- lization and information sharing as well as improving...

Language: en