Tsunami: Dec' 26, 2004 Lessons for Public Health

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Tsunami Dec. 26, 2004Lessons for Public Health
Mark Oberle MD, MPH moberle_at_u.washington.edu http
//faculty.washington.edu/moberle/Tsunami

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Surviving a Tsunami

• http//pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/

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Second wave recedes from pool area
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Victims got splints and bandages in the lobby
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Buses and boats blocked streets
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Cars and steel slammed into buildings
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Cars and debris filled pools and rooms
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Rescue efforts
Rescuers hopped on debris to get between flooded
buildings, while smaller waves crashed into1st
floor
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Water receding at our hotel
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Tourists and Thais waited for next tsunami on the
hillsides
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Hourly panics gt stampedes from beach
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The search for the missing
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Identifying remains, December 2004
(Photo Mark Simmerman)
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Processing remains, December 2004
(Photo Mark Simmerman)
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Thailand casualty data, 4 January 2005
(Photo Mark Simmerman)
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Public Health Concerns

• Preparedness planning
• Treatment of acute injuries
• Food, shelter, safe water
• Person-to-person transmission
• e.g., measles
• Vector borne disease malaria, dengue (?)
• Rehabilitation medicine
• Mental health services

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Post-tsunami illnesses

• Source MMWR January 28, 2005 / 54(03)61-64.

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Lessons for all of us

• Tsunami warning signs
• Who are the first responders?
• Family Disaster Plan
• Communications

For more information on family disaster plans
http//www.doh.wa.gov/phepr/handbook/family.htm
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Technology
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Large Tsunamis in Last 50 years

• Chile, 1960 9.5
• Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1964 9.2
• Indonesia, 2004 9.0 9.3
• Andreanof Islands, Alaska, 1957 9.1

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World Population Growth
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Questions
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Tsunami Dec. 26, 2004Lessons for Public Health
Mark Oberle MD, MPH moberle_at_u.washington.edu http
//faculty.washington.edu/moberle/Tsunami