Responding to disasters

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• Responding to disasters
• in the zone
• Prof Bruce Robinson
• Uni of Western Australia
• International Skills Training Institute in
  Health - ISTIH

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The problem
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Aceh etc 2004
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Nias 2005
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Jogjakarta 2006
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Sumatra 2009
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Bali 2005
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2008 - 321 disasters - killed 235,816 people -
affected 211 million others - cost a US181
billion
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Most of these disasters are occuring in this zone
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Disasters
80 of the world's worst natural disasters of the
20th and 21st centuries earthquakes, tsunamis,
volcanoes, typhoons occured in this region. CBS
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Effects of disasters
Death
Disasters killed 750,000 people in southeast Asia
in last 10 years
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Other effects of disasters

• Injury
• Diseases
• Displacement
• Economic loss
• Psychological

Most of the victims of disasters are the survivors
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Who can respond to a disaster?
Local immediate but limited emergency and
disaster response skills
National - impossible to begin work before 48
hours
International - uncertain, not always
appropriate, delayed by days to weeks
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What are we doing to improve this situation?
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Solution 1.Improved international response
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• 52 million
• rapid deployment of Australian civilians
• health services
• electricity and water
• administration

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Solution 2.Improved local response
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Local response

• first 2 days post-disaster critical window -
  trauma
• - wound/fracture infections
• - inhaled tsunami water etc
• depends upon the capacity of the local services
• good local emergency skills provides daily
  benefit ( practice!)

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Practice and serve day-to-day (eg. motor vehicle
accidents, medical emergencies etc). -
Jakarta gt2000 deaths pa. from motor vehicle
accidents - 74.8 delayed i.e. potentially
preventable
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Additional advantages of developing a strong
local response

• better links with police, fire, military
• local pride and dignity
• sustainable programs (owned)
• local customs understood

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Where are we at now?
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International Skills and Training Institute in
Health.
UWA, Curtin Uni, Health Dept Chair Prof M
Henderson - train the trainerNB. not just in
emergency/disasters - team of experienced
experts from WA and other parts of Australia -
international partnerships eg. University of
Indonesia others
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Locations of ISTIH exec activities

• Ausaid contracts in Emergency Medicine and
  Disaster Preparedness Banda Aceh, Darwin and
  Perth

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Who can respond?
Local immediate but limited skills
National - impossible to begin work before 48
hours
International - uncertain, not always
appropriate, delayed by days to weeks
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Goal to develop the emergency response
capabilities of local agencies.

• Strategydevelop Emergency/Disaster Skills
  Training Centres aimed at trainers - partnership
  with local agencies - latest approaches
• simulation/ computing
• - educational/technological

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Repeated visits necessary. - training -
reinforcement - relationshipsBeing in the
zone makes this easier.
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We have- Experienced teams- University
support- Some equipment eg. from the Indonesian
govt- Relationships in 7 countries in the
region- Long term commitment

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What might you be able to do to help?
We needFunding - 500k pa for 5 years(eg. 5
x100k pa. over 5 years) - Training programs
- Software development - Some equipment
Make it core business!
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Why?
www.istih.org
Thank you