TITLE:
Lessons from Partial Hospital Evacuations after the 2016 Central Tottori Earthquake
AUTHORS:
Tomofumi Ogoshi, Takahiro Ueda, Masato Homma, Masafumi Kameoka, Hiroshi Ichibakase, Takafumi Hamasaki, Minoru Okada
KEYWORDS:
DMAT, Earthquake, Kurayoshi, Partial Hospital Evacuation, Tottori
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Emergency Medicine,
Vol.9 No.4,
December
14,
2021
ABSTRACT: Objective: This study investigated the reasons, timing, procedures, and priorities
of evacuations implemented by hospitals after the 2017 Central Tottori
Earthquake to determine whether the evacuations were conducted appropriately. Methods: We collected patient and hospital data from the Disaster Medical Assistance
Team (DMAT) coordination headquarters at the Prefectural Office. Requests for
the transfer of 13 patients were analyzed. Results: The 13 patients were
evacuated at night over seven hours, during which aftershocks occurred and
falling debris was a high risk. We determined that none of the affected regions
had emergency needs. Therefore, patient transport could have been conducted the
following morning by bus and helicopter. Furthermore, patient transport could
be efficiently carried out without physicians accompanying the patients.
Nonetheless, consideration should be made regarding the handling of patient
issues while in transit. Where a high number of patients are transported,
hospitals would need to request the assistance of DMAT and Self-Defense Forces
units earlier. Conclusions: Although all patients were successfully
evacuated without incident with a few DMAT, It took for 7 hours to transfer 13
patients So hospitals should consider transporting patients during the day if
there is no risk of building collapse. Hospitals should also prepare a plan for
evacuation priority before the next disaster.