%0 Journal Article %T Disability as an emerging public health crisis in postearthquake Nepal %J American journal of public health %D 2015 %A Landry, Michel D. %A Raman, Sudha R. %A Kohrt, Brandon A. %V 105 %N 8 %P 1515-1517 %X Just before noon on April 25, 2015, a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred about 80 kilometers east of the Nepali capitol of Kathmandu, unleashing considerable destruction in one of the poorest countries in Asia. Then, just 18 days later, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck, this time about 40 kilometers west of Kathmandu. Although predictions of an impending large earthquake in Nepal had motivated the government and local and international nongovernmental organizations to create disaster preparedness plans in recent years,(1,2) this disaster affected rural and remote areas where the country's infrastructure and population were most vulnerable, and where disaster preparedness was weakest.(3) The current estimates of casualties and injured are more than 8500 and 15 000 people respectively, and the numbers of internally displaced people are in the hundred of thousands. Most agencies forecast that these numbers will increase over the coming weeks as the strategy shifts to a reconstruction mission. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print June 11, 2015: e1-e3. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302809).

Language: en

%G en %I American Public Health Association %@ 0090-0036 %U http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302809