Natural Disasters result in a sudden onslaught of huge numbers of catastrophic and disabling injuries including spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, limb amputations, long bone fractures and peripheral nerve injuries. In addition to these there are persons with pre-existing disabilities in the affected disaster zones. Oftentimes disasters overwhelm the available resources and rehabilitation services are usually underdeveloped in most parts of the disaster affected zones. Both challenges are frequently neglected and not included in disaster response planning. As a consequence, Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) has traditionally played no or little role in the post disaster phase and disaster planning.

The data was derived from an English language literature search (1950–2010) using Pubmed, Google Scholar, Sciencedirect, Ovid, and Sagepub. Other sources of data included discussion with subject matter experts and the author's personal experience.

PRM has not historically become actively engaged in medical rehabilitation of injuries until 24-48 hours post-event. The emergence of the discipline of disaster rehabilitation however, advances PMR into the emergency response phase. This paper describes the disability pattern after disasters, shortcomings in the traditional disaster response with reference to PMR interventions and disabled populations and its negative consequences. It then explores the rehabilitation interventions offered in different disaster scenarios during the last decade and its positive impact in achieving a better outcome for the new onset and pre-existing disabled population.

This is the first paper in biomedical literature exploring the possible role of PRM in the post disaster phase. The paper offers recommendations to include PRM in the disaster response phase and possible plans of action for organizations working in the fields of disability and disaster management. It is expected that this paper will guide future research and establishment of the field of Disaster Rehabilitation.