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Health Sector Implications of the 1988 Earthquake in Yunnan Province, China
Author(s) -
SAPIR DEBARATI G.,
PANACCIONE VIRGINIA C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1992.tb00388.x
Subject(s) - epidemiology , china , public health , citation , library science , occupational safety and health , sociology , medicine , history , media studies , political science , law , nursing , computer science
Earthquakes are a major source of concern in China. More than 32 per cent of its landmass is at high seismic risk and frequent earthquakes cause significant mortality and structural damage. Six major earthquakes have occurred in China since January 1988, in addition to the devastating 1976 Tang Shan earthquake which killed over a quarter of a million people. The government gives serious support to imme diate emergency response, but less atten tion has been paid to the critical role of the health sector in mitigating or preventing the effects of earthquakes. Certain epidemio logical characteristics of earthquake related morbidity and mortality have very clear emergency preparedness implications. For example, in Tang Shan (1976), the propor tion of persons extricated alive dropped from 81.0 per cent within the first 24 hours to 33.7 per cent in the days that followed. In fact, over 70 per cent of all extrication occurred within 24 hours of the earth quake's impact. This underscores the critical importance of local preparedness over dependence on external assistance (Table 1).