MEDICAL RESPONSE TO DISASTERS, incl DMAT, NDMS, etc

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Dear colleagues,

We have been reading about the American alphabet soup (DMAT, NDMS, FEMA etc)
of disaster response the last several days. The same hurricane that struck
Texas first killed hundreds and TOTALLY destroyed the city of Gonaïves in
Haïti. (To rebuild the city, they will probably have to reconstruct
somewhere else.) Strangely, there have been no messages on the list
concerning this phase of the hurricane.

Just a short reminder that natural catastrophes strike everywhere. In 2004,
a devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran. The Iranian Red Crescent Society
triaged 15,000 wounded in three days. Military and civilian airplanes then
distributed the wounded to all the major hospitals throughout the country.
By then, international help arrived (including an American military field
hospital), largely for political purposes, to deal with the public health
problems.

Take a close look at Bam 2004, the tsunami 2005, or Kashmir earthquake 2006,
earthquake in China just before the Olympics and Haïti, and Katrina, and
then compare. First step for a rapid and effective response: political will.
Everything else is secondary and follows afterwards.

This is for natural catastrophes; armed conflict is another matter, but the
response also depends upon political will, as a first step.

Before getting caught up in an entirely US of A-centered affair, it might be
worthwhile having a look at what happens elsewhere in the world.
Re-inventing wheels is such a waste of time.

-- 
christos giannou
Monemvasia Lakonia
23070 Greece
tel & fax: (++30) 27320-61772
mob: (++30) 69 74 83 28 18

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