Article Analysis Essay on Earthquakes

The article explains about the experiment that was carried out to determine the impact of the earthquake that occurred in Soviet Armenia, 1988, which resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries. As such, it was important to determine how such aspect could be mitigated before they occur and even if they occur, how the people could be saved. The research was to study earthquakes-related injury pattern, observed on a rescue mission to save more lives in the future. It was indicated that out of the population of 8500, there 4200 deaths (49.4%) and 1222 (14.6%) injuries. Among the person who was found alive, 89% were able to be rescued during the 24 hours mostly with the use of heavy equipment.

In the past 20 years, it is reported that earthquakes have caused more than one million lives for people living in different parts of the world. Such number is likely to increase shortly if the governments do not install proper mitigation strategies. Based on that, it was important to analyze how the rescue mission could be established immediately an earthquake is reported. On December 1988, earthquake registered 6.9 on the richer scale hit in the northern part of Soviet Armenia. Of the 150 villages damaged, 58 were destroyed. This indicates that all the people who were rescued in those 58 villages were not able to be saved. As such, it was important to establish where some parts were not hit as much compared to the other. Also, the research aims at showing why the rescue mission was effective in a certain region while it failed on the other side.

A rapid reconnaissance mission was conducted seven days after the earthquake to collect data, assessing damages and losses and observing medical care. The data collated was to include the number of people who had died because of that earthquake. Also, all the properties that were damaged were supposed to be included in the report. It was important to ensure that the medical care was able to reach out to all injured people around the camp. Also, the survivors were taken to different hospitals to establish their injuries as well as receive proper treatment. The Armenia Republic sent troops to the affected region to assist and ensuring all the people who are alive have been safety transported to safer regions. Also, the government gave food and clothing to the survivors since they had lost all their properties.

The government has a major role to play in the event of an earthquake. First, it must have set a huge a mount of money for such natural disaster. It is likely to cost any government a huge sum of money to purchase various equipment that would be used for the rescue purpose. In some cases, it requires for the rescue team to drill concrete places to rescue any person beneath. Also, those survivors might need special attention which might be very costly. Based on that, the government should ensure that all those measures are put in place. Through the report, it was also indicated the importance of training people who would be responsible for a rescue mission in case of an earthquake.

According to the article, there were significant problems concerning collecting data for the study. First, since it took the people involved seven days before they could collect the data, some of them were not as effective due to the time period. As such, the aspect of the earthquake on the group was not properly measured by the involved groups. The circumstances of death were another problem for the people to establish since it had taken them a much longer time. As such, they were not able to report if a person had died due to the effect of the earthquake or failure to be rescued on time. Some people might have survived the impact of the earthquake but end up dying due to hunger as they were not discovered in time. Some might have suffocated to death due to lack of adequate air.

The data were analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Analysis System (SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina). The analyses included relative risk calculations and X 2 tests of proportion for simple comparisons. Statistical significance was considered at P < .05.

The result indicated that in the three towns, crude death was 49.4% while the crude injury was reported to stand at 28.9%. Of the total population, 60.1% were reported to have been trapped. Death rates were 81.4% for the trapped individuals who were compared to the 1.2% of those who were not trapped. The rescue efforts were indicated to be very difficult at the first night due to lack of electricity. Due the affected of the earthquake, most of the power system was disrupted, and the rescue team had to improvise their unique ways of lighting the place. However, those lighting was not effective enough as some of the people were beneath the fallen buildings. It was difficult to get a clear view of them, and some of them had to wait until the morning to be rescued. Also, operations in the three towns were disrupted due to lack of street making, maps, and building plans. Such actions made the people guess their ways around the building as they try to rescue the people. In most cases, it is advisable for the rescue team to have a clear view of a given building. As such, it will be easy for them to locate areas in which people are likely to be trapped.

Many of the surviving injured victims (30%) were not reported to have received any advanced medical care on the site. As such, they relied on private vehicles for them to be transported to the nearby hospitals. Also, it was reported that all the vehicles which were involved in transporting the survivors lack any facilities for taking care of the needs of the injured people. Most of the hospitals which were near the place had been damaged and also the doctors were not in good condition to treat the patients. As such, most of the injured people were transported to other regions which had not been affected by the earthquake.

Although the risk of catastrophe is widely recognized, many people fail to understand that in the United States, eight different types of an earthquake with greater magnitude than Armenia had hit the region. There is a greater concern that a much greater magnitude will hit the eastern part of the country in the future. As such, it is important for the government to planadvance on how the people would be rescued. Also, the government should improvise proper measures to reduce the effect of the earthquake in case it occurs.

Works cited

Logue JN, Melick ME, Hansen H: Research issues and directions in the epidemiology of health effects of disasters. EpidemioI Rev 1981; 3:140-162.

Schiff A, Yanev P: Performance of lifeline systems. Earthquake Spectra (suppl) 1989; 114-135.

Safar P: Resuscitation potentials in mass disasters. Prehosp Dis~lster Med 1986;2:34-47.