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1 results

  • Hospital Disaster Operations During the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

  • Julie Martchenke, James E. Pointer
  • Journal:
    Prehospital and Disaster Medicine / Volume 9 / Issue 3 / September 1994
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    28 June 2012, pp. 146-152
    Print publication:
    September 1994
  • Objective:

    To study hospital disaster operations following a major United States disaster.

    Design:

    Researchers interviewed all 51 hospital administrators and 49 of 51 emergency department (ED) charge nurses and emergency physicians who were on duty at the study hospitals during the 13-hour period immediately following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

    Setting:

    The 51 acute-care hospitals in the six northern California counties most affected by the Loma Prieta earthquake.

    Measurements:

    Questionnaires and inperson interviews.

    Results:

    The most frequently noted problem was lack of communications within and among organizations. Hospitals received inadequate information about the disaster from local governmental agencies. Forty-three percent of hospitals had inadequate back-up power configurations, and five hospitals sustained total back-up generator failures. Twenty hospitals performed partial evacuations.

    Conclusions:

    The Loma Prieta earthquake did not cause total disruption of hospital services. Hospitals need to work with local governmental agencies and internal hospital departments to improve disaster communications.