ECSSR hosts 'Dealing with Disasters and Emergencies' conference

The event is under the high patronage of His Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, at the ECSSR compound.

The conference take place over two days and is organized by the ECSSR with cooperation with National Training.

In the opening session , Mr. Abdullah Al Sahlawi, the Executive Director, on behalf of the Director General of the ECSSR, Dr. Jamal Sanad Al Suwaidi, said that the Center is really interested in organizing Scientific events that concerns the Emirates and the Gulf community in particular.

This comes from the ECSSR's role in serving the local community and supporting scientific governmental and semi governmental institutions. The cooperation between the ECSSR and National training is a great example of that.

There is a belief that all disasters are different, especially those involving terrorism. Thus, one of the most significant problems in mass casualty management is that we do not prepare for disasters; we respond to them. In reality, all disasters, regardless of etiology, have similar medical and public health consequences.

Disasters differ in the degree to which these consequences occur and disrupt the normal medical and non-medical infrastructure of the disaster scene.

Disasters, both natural and man-made (including terrorism), encompass the spectrum of possible threats. Natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters do have a catastrophic effect.

Unsurprisingly, terrorism is most challenging for medical providers. Weapons of mass destruction creating "contaminated environments" are the greatest challenge of all. Official statistics of 2005 from the UN proves that floods is considered to be the first in the list of Natural disasters than comes Hurricanes. As for the continents which are mostly affected by such disasters are Asia, Africa and finally Europe.

A consistent medical approach to disasters, based on an understanding of their common features and the response expertise they require, is becoming the accepted practice throughout the world. Training is also a necessity for those who are involved in medicine and health in particular and the public in general, specially with those who deal with the public like (civil defense, traffic police, special forces, ..etc). The public should be aware of the disasters through education by means of training courses, symposiums, seminars, and even establish specialized centers to face disasters.. Furthermore, local associations should provide mental support to survivors and victims of disasters.

In view of the importance of this manual, its translation into Arabic becomes a necessity. It aims at making its contents available for emergency response in disaster management sectors. This translation is a contribution to the community.

The manual deals with the strategy, called the Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) response. It has the primary objective of reducing the mortality caused by the disaster. All medical personnel need to incorporate the key principles of the MCI response in their training, given the complexity of today's disasters.

As a result, The Conference is actually targeting a group of specialists in the field of health and medicine such as doctors who work in the emergency sectors, the nurses who provide first aid in the ER, the nurses who work in the Intensive Care Units, the teams who work in government Hospitals under disaster management, the staff who work at the public health sector, social workers and psychiatrics.