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The Sewol Ferry Disaster: Experiences of a Community-Based Hospital in Ansan City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2016

Jong-Hak Park
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Hanjin Cho*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Joo Yeong Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Joo-Hyun Song
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Sungwoo Moon
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Sang Hoon Cha
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Byung-Min Choi
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Chang-Su Han
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Young-Hoon Ko
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
Hongjae Lee
Affiliation:
Ansan Public Health Center, Ansan, Korea.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Hanjin Cho, MD, PhD, Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, 123, Jeokgeum-ro, Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyunggi-do, 15355, Korea (E-mail: chohj327@korea.ac.kr; chohj327@gmail.com).

Abstract

The Sewol ferry disaster is one of the most tragic events in Korea’s modern history. Among the 476 people on board, which included Danwon High School students (324) and teachers (14), 304 passengers died in the disaster (295 recovered corpses and 9 missing) and 172 survived. Of the rescued survivors, 72 were attending Danwon High School, located in Ansan City, and residing in a residence nearby. Because the students were young, emotionally susceptible adolescents, both the government and the parents requested the students be grouped together at a single hospital capable of appropriate psychiatric care. Korea University Ansan Hospital was the logical choice, as the only third-tier university-grade hospital with the necessary faculty and facilities within the residential area of the families of the students. We report the experiences and the lessons learned from the processes of preparing for and managing the surviving young students as a community-based hospital. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:389–393)

Type
Report from the Field
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2016 

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References

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