Emergency Medical Treatment for the Great Disaster : the Experience of the Medical Relief Team for the Great Hanshin Earthquake (Emergency Care for the Great Disaster)

We have experienced a medical relief team for the Great Hanshin Earthquake. From Feb. 8 1995 to Feb. 15 1995 we stayed at Nagata Ward, one of the most devastated areas of Kobe, to do a medical relief. Although 3 weeks had passed since the Jan. 17 quake hit the city, the ruined city function began to recovery here and there. Two hundred and sixty eight patients were examined and treated by the Niigata Prefecture medical team from Jan. 27 1995 to Mar. 21 1995. Not only a general medical relief team but also a mental health support team and a public health nurse team were very useful at this time. It is very important under normal conditions that each hospital should have enough medical supplies on stock, including antibiotics and bandages for emergency and draw up its own disaster relief plan of which inform their staffs in detail