You are here: Home / Vol. LIII No.8 / Health Consequences of Earthquake 
Health Consequences of Earthquake
 24 May 2015 Radiance Viewsweekly 
By DR. ANIS ANSARI 
Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes, etc. are facts of life. They can happen anywhere resulting in great loss of life and uprooting of communities. Each year, there are more than 1 million earthquakes, two every minute in the world. In the last 20 years, more than 1 million people have died worldwide due to earthquakes. The earth’s crust is divided in tectonic plates. Any movement at boundaries of these plates cause earthquakes. We must have plan in place to deal with these kinds of disasters. 
According to a 2005 article by Naghii published in a public health magazine, in most earthquakes mostly falling building material kill people. Death resulting from major earthquakes can be immediate, rapid or delayed. Instantaneous death can be due to the severe crushing injuries to the head or chest, outside or inside bleeding, drowning from earthquake-induced tidal waves (tsunamis). Rapid death occurs within minutes or hours due to suffocating dust inhalation, chest compression or hypovolemic shock. Delayed death occurs within days, due to dehydration, and low or high body temperatures. A majority of people have minor injuries and simple fractures not requiring operation.
A baby miraculously rescued from rubble of Nepal earthquake after 22 hours. 
Major injuries requiring hospitalisation include skull fractures, bleeding inside brain, neck and spine; lung, liver injury and spleen rupture. Crush injuries can cause muscle damage resulting in high potassium, phosphorus, and myoglobin levels. This can lead to kidney failure requiring dialysis. Patient usually undergo aggressive fluid resuscitation which does not contain potassium or calcium as crush victims already have high level of these two minerals. The death toll for people with kidney failure in earthquakes set ranges from 14 per cent to 18 per cent, according to 2011 article by Bartel in Medical News Today. 
Many patients will have acute heart attacks, worsening of their diabetes, hypertension, anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts. In earthquakes, people over the age of 60 are at the highest of risk of death and injury compare to the rest of the population. Children between the age of 5 and 9 years, women and the chronically ill, also seem to be at an elevated risk of injury and death. People have been rescued alive even after 5 or 10 days after the earthquake. 
Prompt rescue should improve the care outcome of victims; and early medical treatment will lessen the consequence of primary injuries. The provision of adequate food, water, and shelter will help those in need. Rapid mobilisation of victims and prompt medical help will go a long way in taking care of their needs. A large number of people will benefit from early medical intervention like correction of inhalational injuries, correction of dehydration, haemorrhages, or burns. Sometimes, damage to hospitals can limit emergency help and treatment in affected areas. 
In fact, the lack of coordination between different disciplines like doctors, engineers, and epidemiologist has been a major shortcoming in dealing with the situation. Large scale mobilisation to address the immediate need of the victim and long term planning to deal with health hazard will go a long way in alleviating the health consequences of the earthquake or any major disasters. 
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