How quickly can hospitals and health centres react to natural disasters like earthquakes or floods, asks the UN World Health Organization (WHO) on a newly-launched Facebook page, which aims to spread the message about boosting hospital safety to withstand disasters.
A timed test gauges visitors’ reaction time; the average score is 0.371 seconds. “Disasters unfold during those first seconds, which is when poorly-braced health systems start to crash,” said WHO’s Geneva-based Safe Hospitals Initiative coordinator Jonathan Abrahams. Governments signing on to the initiative pledge to make their hospitals safer by improving building codes, preparing emergency plans and bolstering community preparedness.
Almost half a million people have died in natural disasters in Southeast Asia over the past decade: Few health facilities survived the 2007 cyclone in Bangladesh, meaning 60,000 injured went without care; China’s 2008 earthquake destroyed 11,000 health centres; a 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India, destroyed more than 3,800 health facilities, leading to a near total collapse of health care in one of the worst-hit areas.
“We say never again,” said Abrahams. “And then we see it again.”
pt/cb
| Health care casualties |
 ASIA: When hospitals become casualties |
| HAITI: Rebuilding health sector is "long-term challenge" |
| ASIA: Boosting community resilience in disasters |
Almost half a million people have died in natural disasters in Southeast Asia over the past decade: Few health facilities survived the 2007 cyclone in Bangladesh, meaning 60,000 injured went without care; China’s 2008 earthquake destroyed 11,000 health centres; a 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India, destroyed more than 3,800 health facilities, leading to a near total collapse of health care in one of the worst-hit areas.
“We say never again,” said Abrahams. “And then we see it again.”
pt/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article
