Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:29:05.728Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Sex Disparity Among Earthquake Victims

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2015

Michael Ardagh ,
Sarah Standring ,
Joanne M. Deely ,
David Johnston ,
Viki Robinson ,
Pauline Gulliver ,
Sandra Richardson ,
Alieke Dierckx  and
Martin Than
Michael Ardagh*
Affiliation:
University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand
Sarah Standring
Affiliation:
Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
Joanne M. Deely
Affiliation:
Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch, New Zealand
David Johnston
Affiliation:
Joint Centre for Disaster Research, GNS Science, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Viki Robinson
Affiliation:
Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand
Pauline Gulliver
Affiliation:
Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
Sandra Richardson
Affiliation:
University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand
Alieke Dierckx
Affiliation:
Christchurch Emergency Care Foundation, Christchurch, New Zealand
Martin Than
Affiliation:
Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Professor Michael W Ardagh, Emergency Department, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand (e-mail: [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

Understanding who is most vulnerable during an earthquake will help health care responders prepare for future disasters. We analyzed the demography of casualties from the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand.

Methods

The demography of the total deceased, injured, and hospitalized casualties of the Christchurch earthquake was compared with that of the greater Christchurch population, the Christchurch central business district working population, and patients who presented to the single acute emergency department on the same month and day over the prior 10 years. Sex data were compared to scene of injury, context of injury, clinical characteristics of injury, and injury severity scores.

Results

Significantly more females than males were injured or killed in the entire population of casualties (P<0.001). Most of the deceased and hospitalized casualties were injured in the central business district (171/182 deceased [94%]; 33/91 hospitalized [36.2%]). Approximately half of both sexes were injured at home (1002/2032 males [49%]; 2390/4627 females [52%]) and >20% were injured at commercial or service localities (444/2032 males [22%]; 1105/4627 females [24%]). Adults aged between 20 and 69 years (1639/2032 males [81%]; 3717/4627 females [80%]) were most frequently injured.

Conclusion

Where people were and what they were doing at the time of the earthquake influenced their risk of injury. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:67-73)

Keywords

earthquakesemergency preparednessmortalitynatural disasters
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 67 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Ramirez, M, Peek-Asa, C. Epidemiology of traumatic injuries from earthquakes. Epidemiol Rev. 2005;27:47-55.Google Scholar
2. Briggs, SM. Earthquakes. Surg Clin North Am. 2006;86:537-544.Google Scholar
3. Doocy, S, Daniels, A, Aspilcueta, D. Mortality and injury following the 2007 Ica earthquake in Peru. Am J Disaster Med. 2009;4:15-22.Google Scholar
4. Alexander, D. The health effects of earthquakes in the mid-1990s. Disasters. 1996;20:231-247.Google Scholar
5. Osaki, Y, Minowa, M. Factors associated with earthquake deaths in the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, 1995. Am J Epidemiol. 2001;153:153-156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Chou, YJ, Huang, N, Lee, CH, et al. Who is at risk of death in an earthquake? Am J Epidemiol. 2004;160:688-695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Tanida, N. What happened to elderly people in the great Hanshin earthquake. BMJ. 1996;313:1133-1135.Google Scholar
8. Phalkey, R, Reinhardt, JD, Marx, M. Injury epidemiology after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India: a retrospective analysis of injuries treated at a rural hospital in the Kutch district immediately after the disaster. Glob Health Action. 2011;4:7196.Google Scholar
9. Mohebbi, HA, Mehrvarz, S, Saghafinia, M, et al. Earthquake related injuries: assessment of 854 victims of the 2003 Bam disaster transported to tertiary referral hospitals. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2008;23:510-515.Google Scholar
10. Emami, MJ, Tavakoli, AR, Alemzadeh, H, et al. Strategies in evaluation and management of Bam earthquake victims. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2005;20:327-330.Google Scholar
11. Papadopoulos, IN, Kanakaris, N, Triantafillidis, A, et al. Autopsy findings from 111 deaths in the 1999 Athens earthquake as a basis for auditing the emergency response. Br J Surg. 2004;91:1633-1640.Google Scholar
12. Eberhart-Phillips, JE, Saunders, TM, Robinson, AL, et al. Profile of mortality from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake using coroner and medical examiner reports. Disasters. 1994;18:160-170.Google Scholar
13. Ardagh, MW, Richardson, SK, Robinson, V, et al. The initial health-system response to the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, in February, 2011. Lancet. 2012;379:2109-2115.Google Scholar
14. Johnston, D, Standring, S, Ronan, K, et al. The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes: context and cause of injury. Natural Hazards. 2014;73:627-637.Google Scholar
15. Statistics New Zealand. 2006 Census. http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2006CensusHomePage.aspx. Accessed January 2012.Google Scholar
16. Statistics New Zealand. Estimating local populations after the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes. http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/estimates_and_projections/estimating-pop-after-chch-quakes-paper.aspx. Published October 2011. Accessed June 10, 2012.Google Scholar
17. Algorithm to Transform ICD-10 codes to AIS 90 (1998 update). Version 1. Pamplona, Spain: European Centre for Injury Prevention UoN; 2006.Google Scholar
18. Baker, SP, O’Neill, B, Haddon, W, et al. The injury severity score: a method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care. J Trauma. 1974;14:187-196.Google Scholar
19. Kreiss, Y, Merin, O, Peleg, K, et al. Early disaster response in Haiti: the Israeli field hospital experience. Ann Intern Med. 2010;153:45-48.Google Scholar
20. Amundson, D, Dadekian, G, Etienne, M, et al. Practicing internal medicine onboard the USNS COMFORT in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(11):733-737.Google Scholar
21. Sami, F, Ali, F, Zaidi, SH, et al. The October 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan: patterns of injuries in victims brought to the Emergency Relief Hospital, Doraha, Mansehra. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2009;24:535-539.Google Scholar
22. Bozkurt, M, Ocguder, A, Turktas, U, et al. The evaluation of trauma patients in Turkish Red Crescent Field Hospital following the Pakistan earthquake in 2005. Injury. 2007;38:290-297.Google Scholar
23. Etienne, M, Powell, C, Faux, B. Disaster relief in Haiti: a perspective from the neurologists on the USNS COMFORT. Lancet Neurol. 2010;9:461-463.Google Scholar
24. Mahue-Giangreco, M, Mack, W, Seligson, H, et al. Risk factors associated with moderate and serious injuries attributable to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, Los Angeles, California. Ann Epidemiol. 2001;11:347-357.Google Scholar
25. Hu, Z, Zeng, X, Fu, P, et al. Predictive factors for acute renal failure in crush injuries in the Sichuan earthquake. Injury. 2012;43:613-618.Google Scholar
26. He, Q, Wang, F, Li, G, et al. Crush syndrome and acute kidney injury in the Wenchuan Earthquake. J Trauma. 2011;70:1213-1217.Google Scholar
27. Rathore, MF, Rashid, P, Butt, AW, et al. Epidemiology of spinal cord injuries in the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Spinal Cord. 2007;45:658-663.Google Scholar
28. Peek-Asa, C, Kraus, JF, Bourque, LB, et al. Fatal and hospitalized injuries resulting from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Int J Epidemiol. 1998;27:459-465.Google Scholar
29. Peek-Asa, C, Ramirez, M, Seligson, H, et al. Seismic, structural, and individual factors associated with earthquake related injury. Inj Prev. 2003;9:62-66.Google Scholar
30. Armenian, HK, Melkonian, A, Noji, EK, et al. Deaths and injuries due to the earthquake in Armenia: a cohort approach. Int J Epidemiol. 1997;26:806-813.Google Scholar
31. Tanaka, H, Iwai, A, Oda, J, et al. Overview of evacuation and transport of patients following the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. J Emerg Med. 1998;16:439-444.Google Scholar
32. Chan, CC, Lin, YP, Chen, HH, et al. A population-based study on the immediate and prolonged effects of the 1999 Taiwan earthquake on mortality. Ann Epidemiol. 2003;13:502-508.Google Scholar
33. Liang, NJ, Shih, YT, Shih, FY, et al. Disaster epidemiology and medical response in the Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;38:549-555.Google Scholar
34. Zhang, L, Li, H, Carlton, JR, et al. The injury profile after the 2008 earthquakes in China. Injury. 2009;40:84-86.Google Scholar
35. Xie, J, Du, L, Xia, T, et al. Analysis of 1856 inpatients and 33 deaths in the West China Hospital of Sichuan University from the Wenchuan earthquake. J Evid Based Med. 2008;1:20-26.Google Scholar
36. Mulvey, JM, Awan, SU, Qadri, AA, et al. Profile of injuries arising from the 2005 Kashmir earthquake: the first 72 h. Injury. 2008;39:554-560.Google Scholar
37. Ellidokuz, H, Ucku, R, Aydin, UY, et al. Risk factors for death and injuries in earthquake: cross-sectional study from Afyon, Turkey. Croat Med J. 2005;46:613-618.Google Scholar
38. Kaiser, A, Holden, C, Beaven, J, et al. The Mw 6.2 Christchurch earthquake of February 2011: preliminary report. N Z J Geology Geophysics. 2012;55:67-90.Google Scholar
39. Doocy, S, Daniels, A, Packer, C, et al. The human impact of earthquakes: a historical review of events 1980-2009 and systematic literature review. PLoS Curr. 2013;5:1-39.Google Scholar
40. Baird, A, Palermo, A, Pampanin, S, et al. Focusing on reducing the earthquake damage to facade systems. Bull N Z Soc Earthquake Engineering. 2001;44:108-120.Google Scholar
41. Falk, P, Campbell, C. The Shopping Experience. London: Sage Publications; 1997.Google Scholar
42. Bennet, B, Dann, J, Johnson, E, et al. Once in a Lifetime: City Building After Disaster in Christchurch. Christchurch, New Zealand: Freerange Press; 2014.Google Scholar
43. The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Historic earthquakes: The 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/historic-earthquakes/page-6. Accessed April 2015.Google Scholar
44. New Zealand Legislation. Building Act 2004. Parliamentary Counsel Office, January 2015. http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2004/0072/latest/DLM306036.html. Accessed April 2015.Google Scholar
45. Fothergill, A. Gender, risk, and disaster. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters. 1996;14:33-56.Google Scholar
46. World Health Organization. Gender and Health in Disasters. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002. http://www.who.int/gender/other_health/en/genderdisasters.pdf. Accessed August 2014.Google Scholar
47. Arnett, JJ. Adolescents’ uses of media for self-socialization. J Youth Adolesc. 1995;24:519-533.Google Scholar
48. Santesso, DL, Segalowitz, SJ. Poor error monitoring response is related to risk-taking and lack of empathy in males. Psychophysiology. 2009;46:143-152.Google Scholar
49. Statistics New Zealand. New Zealand in Profile 2014: An Overview of New Zealand’s People, Economy and Environment. http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-in-profile-2014.aspx. Accessed July 2014.Google Scholar
50. Lu-Ping, Z, Rodriguez-Llanes, JM, Qi, W, et al. Multiple injuries after earthquakes: a retrospective analysis on 1,871 injured patients from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Crit Care. 2012;16:R87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar