Fostering Disaster Resilient Communities across the Globe through the Incorporation of Safe and Resilient Hospitals for Community-Integrated Disaster Responses

Abstract

Events due to natural and technological hazards result in damage to living beings and the natural and built environment. The high urban population density, level of development, and extent of poverty in many disaster-prone areas further exacerbate the cumulative impact of such catastrophes. Also, crises, including those created by earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, and tsunamis, have underscored the inability of hospitals to provide uninterrupted, urgently needed health services and maintain structural integrity. In many instances, deaths of hospital occupants were the direct result of collapsing physical infrastructure. In response and recognition of the need for collaborative efforts to mitigate the damages and loss of function, international public health, humanitarian, and relief organizations such as the Pan-American Health Organization (WHO/PAHO), the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) of the United Nations, the World Bank, the Joint Commission International (JCI), and the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) have sponsored a series of global forums intent on developing guidelines for designing, constructing, and evaluating “safe and resilient” hospitals. The underlying goals of these guidelines are to protect the lives of patients, staff, and other hospital occupants, and ensure that hospitals continue to function during and after a catastrophic event.