Editorial

Citation

(2006), "Editorial", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315daa.001

Editorial

Watching the news feeds of the Indonesian earthquake disaster that occurred on 27 May 2006 it appeared that the people of that stricken area were responding very well given the scale of the devastation that had occurred. The ordinary citizens were getting themselves organised into search and rescue teams albeit without any tools apart from their bare hands. Just imagine how much more efficient they would have been with a bit of pre-disaster training or by increasing the availability of picks, shovels and wheelbarrows.

In many of the developed nations it is not unusual to find private homes with a small supply of emergency response materials, nor to find that they know what to do in the event of an earthquake to increase survivability.

Many developing nations have adopted a “bicycle doctor” system to supply low-level medical services to outlying villages and farms. This system is quick and easy to install, and it is very effective both in cost and benefit to the people.

If we combined the public awareness of the proper response to earthquakes with the availability of low-level immediate medical care, and a supply of low technology tools at a local level then we have created a system that is available to those nations which are located within earthquake prone areas.

Medical responders will tell you that treatment of injuries within the first hour is paramount, even if it only the staunching of a bleed, or simple shock prevention. In the immediate aftermath of an earthquake in a densely populated area such as surrounded the Indonesian disaster this is a near impossibility to achieve. It would be difficult to achieve within rich developed nations.

Disaster mitigation is an integral part of disaster management but it is something that we seldom receive any papers on. Perhaps this is because, like disaster prevention, it is something that occurs in hindsight.

But, imagine if in such disaster prone areas there was a system that at the end of each major street there was a container that held a few spades, a couple of wheelbarrows, a few hand picks, water sterilising tablets, etc. If there were a few people in that street that had a rudimentary knowledge of first-aid such as when and how to staunch a bleed, how to recognise and/or prevent shock, that they knew how to splint a broken bone, or if a few people in that street had previously heard a short talk on how to increase their survivability in the event of an earthquake and encouraged to tell others of what they could do to help themselves. What a difference these simple procedures could make. They could be paid a small honorarium to keep their knowledge up-to-date or for attendance at the training sessions.

Cost would be low, response would not only be quick but more effective, which buys time for the major aid services to get up to speed, which buys time for international aid to arrive and be distributed, but above all else it gives the survivors a meaningful purpose. It would help remove that helplessness feeling that is often adopted by survivors.