Journal of Disaster and Emergency Research
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Jan 2021

Hospitals provide healthcare services to society during and after emergencies. Therefore, the hospitals should be well-prepared for emergencies and have easy applicable, and efficient emergency plans. We aimed to investigate the applicability of emergency regulations in a university hospital. It is a descriptive study in which the current emergency plan of a university hospital is compared with the regulations and legislation in effect in Turkey. The number of teams and officials included in the teams in the current legislative emergency plan are identified and compared to the available emergency teams in a hospital for the present study. The present studyidentified the potential emergencies in accordance with the “Regulation on Emergencies in Workplaces” and the conditions in the particular region and hospital. 16 teams were identified for these emergencies and the number of officials in each team was confirmed. In the current staff of the hospital, there were 12 teams. Additionally, three teams were identified in the current hospital team that was not stated in the regulation. Although stipulated in the regulations, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear teams, and national medical rescue teams were not available in the hospital. Therefore, these teams and the number of officials in each team were determined. Due to the geopolitical location of Turkey, the high disaster risk in the region, and the history of disasters, all hospitals should have applicable and constantly updated emergency plans. The number of teams in emergency plans and the number of officials in these teams should be arranged under current legislation, size of the hospitals, risk analyses, and functionality. With this study, we determined the emergency teams and the number of staff in the hospital.

SARS-Covid 2 is a new type of coronavirus which is a serious threat to all countries. Identifying the risk factors and investigating cases between deaths and discharge can increase public awareness to deal with this virus more easily. We conducted a case-control study on 274 patients with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020. The cases were 137 COVID-19 patients discharged from the hospital, and the controls were patients who died due to COVID-19. Patient's information was obtained with demographic, clinical risk factors questionnaire, and their medical records. The results showed that the age over 70, overweight, and high body mass index were significant predictors of death due to COVID-19. Opium use was associated with the death of COVID-19; however, it was not a significant predictor as an independent variable. Histories of chronic disease, as well as clinical signs of dyspnea, were significantly associated with death due to COVID-19. Fever and myalgia were introduced as the supportive clinical signs, so fever and myalgia were significantly more common in discharged individuals. Given that in this study, age over 70, overweight, obesity, opium use, and having clinical symptoms such as chronic diseases and dyspnea have been introduced as the risk factors for death due to COVID-19, so it is recommended due to lack of access to the appropriate vaccine to prevent COVID-19, during the outbreak of the virus. To prevent infection and spread of the virus, further training is required in the use of face masks, reducing traffic in public places, and proper handwashing.

Nepal is vulnerable to many hazards and disasters. Geographically, Nepal is situated at the Indi-an and Eurasian seismic plates and is prone to disasters like floods, landslides, fire, and earthquakes. The earthquake on April 25, 2015, with a 7.8 Richter scale and several aftershocks, have resulted in a considerable loss of human lives, physical infrastructure, and natural resources in Nepal. Many studies on the impacts of the earthquake mentioned the challenges in community recovery. This paper examines and explains the impact of earthquakes on family and community and how family and community cope during the disaster. Besides coping mechanisms, this paper explains discourses or conflicts in the family and communities. The paper is an outcome of a statistical analysis of 912 households survey conducted in Nepal's central hill, Kispang Rural municipality, a community affected by the 2015 earthquake in Nuwakot district. This research relies on literature review, key informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), field visits, expert interviews, etic and emic approaches to observe the field. The research questionnaires were prepared and performed a household survey of 912 households. Various questions on how the earthquake in Nepal "X" has created the "Y" impacts and discourses or conflict in the family and the community in Nepal's central hills were analyzed. The earthquake has impacted the families and communities; however, the families and communities had shown distinct coping mechanisms to stay resilient to the impact—various factors were identified where family discourses and escalated conflict influenced the community peace. It was found that family-level discourses and conflict emerged mainly in collectivist society or joint or extended families. Gender-based violence/ conflict was also measured and found augmented after the earthquake in the community.   The research study concluded that family discourses and conflict emerge when disaster relief and reconstruction policies do not incorporate the needs of affected communities. The multi-dimensional holistic, integrated policies that integrate all the affected communities' needs will support building community and family-level peace. Discriminative policies that divide families and communities should not be practiced.

This study aims to understand the dynamics of insurance as a risk management tool for natural disasters in India. It further explores different strategies and programs for disaster insurance adopted by the Indian government and highlights these initiatives' gaps.

The authors conducted both offline and online desk reviews to understand the dynamics of insurance mechanisms and government strategies. They conducted a narrative review of existing literature, including peer-reviewed articles, thematic books, and government and non-governmental reports from diverse sources.

The review clearly shows that despite the various types of natural disasters the country faces, the coverage of disaster insurance in India remains low. It outlines the importance of insurance as a risk management tool, especially for the most vulnerable sections of society living in rural parts. The review further highlights the benefits of different government schemes and strategies while at the same time highlighting the gaps in these schemes.

The review calls for an urgent and sustained effort to increase the number of individuals insured against natural disasters in the country by addressing the policy shortcomings and engaging with the communities and the private sector to understand their respective needs. The review also underlines the importance of creating awareness regarding disaster insurance among the wider population. Furthermore, it calls for a comprehensive disaster management plan with insurance as one of its pillars.

 Pakistan has suffered from the worst ever natural and artificial disasters in its history since the start of this century. These disasters caused widespread loss of life, property, and resources; moreover, a high level of social and psychological imbalance was also experienced. The only law available in the country to handle disaster situations was response-oriented, and in the aftermath of the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, the government was forced to review its laws dealing with disasters. To provide a complete spectrum of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) at national level, National Disaster Management Ordinance (NDMO) was promulgated in 2006. NDMO was ratified by the parliament naming it as National Disaster Management Act (NDM Act), 2010 of Pakistan with the purpose to reduce the risks and manage the future disaster situations effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to review in detail the (NDM Act), 2010 of Pakistan and ascertain the limitations with a view to proffer necessary recommendations.

The study is based on secondary data and detail review of NDM Act 2010, of Pakistan.

The detail study of NDM Act, 2010 reveals that the Act was either prepared in haste or by a team lacking the requisite expertise on the subject due to certain glaring ambiguities within the contents of various sections. Initially the Act appears to be reactive in nature as there is no mention of disaster risk reduction measures. Lack of accountability mechanism makes the implementation phase susceptible to deviant workplace behaviors. Details of financial allocations for the lower level disaster management authorities (district, union and town), who are the initial responders have been missed out.

Owing to lack of political and economic constraints supplemented with corruption, the effectiveness of policies and plans formulated under the guidelines of NDM Act, 2010 will always remain doubtful. Thus, the early revision of NDM Act, 2010 of Pakistan is recommended.