In the event of a disaster, all personnel present in the airport area must modify their own everyday rules to ensure the best response to the emergency situation. For medical aid there are two main objectives: (a) organization of rescue operation; and (b) mustering medical resources. The initiators of the rescue operation must be the control tower staff and each Italian airport is provided with emergency plans which have been carefully studied.

Information systems between the accident site and the centers of available medical resources, however, are less well organized. These can be simplified by the use of a video terminal, connected with a data system elaborator. The Lombardy region plans to install a video-terminal in every Regional Hospital in order to be able to present the airport with the up-to-date situation of vacant beds and of medical staff present in the hospital for emergency tasks.

It is proposed that the alert from the accident site should be in two phases. Initially, a general alert must be given, followed after a short time by a more detailed specific alert. The first phase must be addressed to those departments that, independently of the type of the disaster, will always be involved in any critical situation, e.g., Ambulance Headquarters, ICUs, Blood Centers, Emergency Departments. The second phase will be used to inform hospital departments specializing in treating the pathology prevailing in the particular disaater. In airport disasters, the pathology which prevails will include major and multiple injuries with blood loss and burns.