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Citation
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Rajbhandari AK, Dhital R, Pradhan PM, Subhani H, Shrestha SM, Subedi M. Ann. Glob. Health 2015; 81(4): 482-486. |
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Affiliation
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Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal. |
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Abstract
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Earthquakes are unavoidable natural phenomena that affect many parts of the world every year. During the first 6 months of 2015, Asian countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Nepal experienced high-intensity earthquakes. Regardless of similar intensity, the most adverse effects of earthquakes were observed in Nepal.
On April 25, 2015, at 11:56 NST, an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude and a Maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) hit Nepal. The epicenter was in the Gorkha district, which lies approximately 77 km northwest of the capital city of Kathmandu. This was followed by more than 332 aftershocks with a local magnitude of 4 or greater as of June 2015; aftershocks continue at the time of this writing. More than 8020 people are known to have been killed; 16,033 were severely injured; and 416,359 homes were damaged, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
Given the severity of the disaster, the government of Nepal immediately announced a state of emergency, declared 14 districts as the worst-hit districts, and called for international support. In response, 4050 international rescue and relief team members, with 87 medical teams from 34 countries, generously supported and joined hands with the national team.
The accountability of public service sectors such as health care, security, and public administration becomes even more crucial in times of disaster. For a low-income country with limited resources like Nepal, this burden doubled after the massive earthquake. The earthquake posed additional occupational health hazards for health care, rescue, and cleanup workers, in particular...
Language: en |