Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T08:17:53.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Emergency Medical Services in Earthquake Response: Integrating the ABC Approach of Israel’s Magen David Adom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2020

Eli Jaffe ,
Yehuda Skornik ,
Joseph Offenbacher  and
Evan Avraham Alpert Open the ORCID record for Evan Avraham Alpert [Opens in a new window]
Eli Jaffe
Affiliation:
Chairman, Committee for Earthquake Preparedness, Magen David Adom, Israel
Yehuda Skornik
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University School of Medicine; Magen David Adom, Israel
Joseph Offenbacher
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine at the Montefiore and Jacobi Hospitals, New York, NY
Evan Avraham Alpert*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Israel
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Evan Avraham Alpert, Department of Emergency Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, 12 Shmu'el Bait St, Jerusalem, Israel, 9103102 (e-mail: evanavrahamalpert@gmail.com).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Throughout history, earthquakes have caused devastation and loss of life. Emergency medical services (EMS) plays a vital role in the response to any mass-casualty incident or disaster. Magen David Adom, Israel’s premier EMS organization, has a unique strategy known as the ABC approach to earthquake response. It involves thousands of salaried workers and trained volunteers who are prepared to respond to an earthquake based on the extent of the disaster. Depending on the amount of destruction, they will be working locally or available to help in other areas. A Level A earthquake causes local destruction and minimal casualties. Any EMS responders in that area as well as in surrounding areas will be available to help. Furthermore, all responders will need to work automatically and autonomously. A Level B earthquake causes extensive destruction, and all responders in the region will be busy caring for the victims. Anyone available outside of the region will come and help. A Level C earthquake is completely devastating, and all workers nationwide will be involved in responding to the catastrophe. The role of EMS responders using the ABC approach to earthquake response, as described here, may be integrated in part or whole in other EMS systems.

Keywords

disastersearthquakesemergency medical services
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 15 , Issue 6 , December 2021 , pp. 770 - 776
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Merin, O, Miskin, IN, Lin, G, et al. Triage in mass-casualty events: the Haitian experience. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2011;26(5):386-390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fukuma, S, Ahmed, S, Goto, R, et al. Fukushima after the Great East Japan Earthquake: lessons for developing responsive and resilient health systems. J Glob Health. 2017;7(1):010501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, ML, Lee, AC, Cartwright, C, et al. The 2015 Nepal earthquake disaster: lessons learned one year on. Public Health. 2017;145:39-44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peleg, K, Reuveni, H, Stein, M. Earthquake disasters – lessons to be learned. Isr Med Assoc J. 2002;4(5):361-365.Google ScholarPubMed
El Sayed, M, Tamim, H, Mann, NC. Description of procedures performed on patients by emergency medical services during mass casualty incidents in the United States. Am J Emerg Med. 2015;33(8):1030-1036.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, RJ, Quintana, LM. Unpredictable, unpreventable and impersonal medicine: global disaster response in the 21st century. EPMA J. 2015;6(1):2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shoaf, KI, Sareen, HR, Nguyen, LH, et al. Injuries as a result of California earthquakes in the past decade. Disasters. 1998;22(3):218-235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roces, MC, White, ME, Dayrit, MM, et al. Risk factors for injuries due to the 1990 earthquake in Luzon, Philippines. Bull World Health Organ. 1992;70(4):509-514.Google Scholar
Pan, ST, Cheng, YY, Wu, CL, et al. Association of injury pattern and entrapment location inside damaged buildings in the 2016 Taiwan earthquake. J Formos Med Assoc. 2019;118:311-323. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2018.05.012 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adhikari, B, Mishra, SR, Babu Marahatta, S, et al. Earthquakes, fuel crisis, power outages, and health care in Nepal: implications for the future. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2017;11(5):625-632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Djalali, A, Khankeh, H, Öhlén, G, et al. Facilitators and obstacles in pre-hospital medical response to earthquakes: a qualitative study. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2011;19:30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, DY, Sorene, E. Magen David Adom – the EMS in Israel. Resuscitation. 2008;76(1):5-10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaffe, E, Alpert, EA, Lipsky, AM. A unique program to incorporate volunteers into a nationwide emergency medical system: maximizing preparedness for a mass casualty incident. JAMA Surg. 2017;152(11):1088-1089.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaffe, E, Dadon, Z, Alpert, EA. Wisdom of the crowd in saving lives: The Life Guardians App. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(5):550-552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fraser, B, Carvallo-Vargas, F. Emergency response after Mexico’s earthquakes. Lancet. 2017;390(10102):1575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jasso Ortega, G. Mexico City emergency nurses respond after September 2017 earthquake. J Emerg Nurs. 2018;44(2):200-202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reyes, H. Students’ response to disaster: a lesson for health care professional schools. Ann Intern Med. 2010;153(10):658-660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, KT, Chen, WJ, Malilay, J, et al. The public health response to the Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan, 1999. Public Health Rep. 2003;118(6):493-499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, K, Kitamura, K, Someya, T. Psychological recovery 5 years after the 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Yamakoshi, Japan. J Epidemiol. 2014;24(2):125-131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yuzal, H, Kim, K, Pant, P, Yamashita, E. Tsunami evacuation buildings and evacuation planning in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. J Emerg Manag. 2017;15(1):49-61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, CH, Koenig, KL, Noji, EK. A medical disaster response to reduce immediate mortality after an earthquake. N Engl J Med. 1996;334(7):438-444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Briggs, SM. Earthquakes. Surg Clin North Am. 2006;86(3):537-544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naghii, MR. Public health impact and medical consequences of earthquakes. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2005;18(3):216-221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angus, DC, Pretto, EA, Abrams, JI, et al. Epidemiologic assessment of mortality, building collapse pattern, and medical response after the 1992 earthquake in Turkey. Disaster Reanimatology Study Group (DRSG). Prehosp Disaster Med. 1997;12(3):222-231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stopford, BM. The National Disaster Medical System – America’s medical readiness force. Disaster Manag Response. 2005;3(2):53-56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryan, K, George, D, Liu, J, et al. The use of field triage in disaster and mass casualty incidents: a survey of current practices by EMS personnel. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2018;22(4):520-526.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kazzi, AA, Langdorf, MI, Handly, N, et al. Earthquake epidemiology: the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake emergency department experience at a community hospital. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2000;15(1):12-19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handrigan, MT, Becker, BM, Jagminas, L, et al. Emergency medical services in the reconstruction phase following a major earthquake: a case study of the 1988 Armenia earthquake. Prehosp Disaster Med. 1998;13(1):35-40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phalkey, R, Reinhardt, JD, Marx, M. Injury epidemiology after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India: a retrospective analysis of injuries treated at a rural hospital in the Kutch district immediately after the disaster. Glob Health Action. 2011;4:7196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alpert, EA, Weiser, G, Kobliner, D, et al. Challenges in implementing international standards for the field hospital emergency department in a disaster zone: the Israeli experience. J Emerg Med. 2018;55(5):682-687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naor, M, Heyman, SN, Bader, T, et al. Deployment of field hospitals to disaster regions: insights from ten medical relief operations spanning three decades. Am J Disaster Med. 2017;12(4):243-256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Igarashi, Y, Tagami, T, Hagiwara, J, et al. Long-term outcomes of patients evacuated from hospitals near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the Great East Japan Earthquake. PLoS One. 2018;13(4):e0195684.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iwata, O, Kawase, A, Iwai, M, et al. Evacuation of a tertiary neonatal centre: lessons from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. Neonatology. 2017;112(1):92-96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yanagawa, Y, Kondo, H, Okawa, T, et al. Lessons learned from the total evacuation of a hospital after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. J Emerg Manag. 2017;15(4):259-263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Motomura, T, Hirabayashi, A, Matsumoto, H, et al. Aeromedical transport operations using helicopters during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake in Japan. J Nippon Med Sch. 2018;85(2):124-130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saberian, P, Kolivand, PH, Hasani-Sharamin, P, et al. Iranian emergency medical service response in disaster; report of three earthquakes. Adv J Emerg Med. 2019;3(2):e13.Google ScholarPubMed