The last ten years have produced a large number of significant earthquakes around the world. These earthquakes in the United States, Latin America, Asia, the Mediterranean, and India have resulted in the death and injuries of hundreds of thousands of individuals. The earthquakes to be described include the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake, the 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquake, and the three earthquakes in 1999 in Colombia, Turkey, and Taiwan. The 1994 Northridge earthquake resulted in 33 deaths from physical trauma, 138 hospitals admissions, and approximately 8,000 individuals treated in emergency departments. The earthquake in Japan resulted in more than 4,000 deaths from injuries and approximately 2,700 hospital admissions associated with physical trauma. The Colombia earthquake caused approximately 1200 fatalities and 4,700 individuals treated at area hospitals. The earthquake in Taiwan resulted in approximately 2,300 deaths and 10,000 injuries, while the Turkey earthquake may have caused more than 16,000 deaths. Data from these five earthquakes exist in varying degrees. A combination of coroner's records, logs and medical records from hospitals, ministry of health data, and population survey data is reviewed for the various earthquakes. To the extent possible, data have been categorized according to a standardized scheme developed to improve casualty estimation in earthquakes. This paper will describe the epidemiology of the injuries across these earthquakes. Differences in age and gender will be described and the relationship to the population distribution. Furthermore, variations in morbidity and mortality will be described as well as variations in injury type and severity. See www.ph.ucla.edu/cphdr
Learning Objectives: Session participants will be able to: 1) Describe the gender and age distributions of injuries and fatalities in earthquakes. 2) Describe the variations in injury type and severity in earthquakes.
Keywords: Disasters, Injuries
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