The Feasibility of Prehospital Medical Response Teams for Foreign Disaster Assistance

Abstract

Disasters are defined as events caused either by natural or technological occurrences, that overwhelm the resources that are immediately available to manage or mitigate the impact of the event. Disasters, by their very nature, are newsmakers. With the improvement in telecommunications, the barriers of distance are reduced to the extent that the people of the world all are members of what Marshall MacLuhan called the “global village.” It now is a common practice to watch the effects of a disaster on the other side of the world, from the safety and comfort of the living room, live on television. The capacity to empathize with the victims, and to feel almost a part of the incident, results in tremendous public attention and an urging of governments, not directly affected by the event, to get involved and “do something!”