Background Information:

Ever wonder what you would do if you were the first on scene after the earthquake in Haiti or in the Superdome as Hurricaine Katrina survivors started to arrive? How could you save the most lives? As is typical of emergency medicine, blood and gore tend to get the most attention, but if you want to save lives you have to think about what is the greatest life threat.  In a large-scale disaster, it turns out, lack of water and abundance of feces kill the most the fastest and need to be addressed first.

The Sphere Project Handbook:

-one of the core documents of humanitarian response

-outlines what should be done to save the most lives in the first days, weeks, and months of a disaster.

-available free online (see reference below)

Pertinent Conclusions: (need-to-know recommendations for the first few days)

-Water: 15L/person/day (any quality--sanitize as per our previous pearl)

-Latrines: max 20 people/latrine, <50m from dwellings, >30m from water sources

       -What kind?

             -First 2-3 days: demarcated defecation area

             -days-2 months: trench latrines (shallow trenches to defecate in)

Other hygeine:

-Solid waste disposal: one 100L refuse container/10 households, emptied at least 2x/week

-Dead bodies: dispose of according to local custom. Generally not an immediate source of infection

-Shelter: >3.5 sq. meters/person of covered floor space

Bottom LIne:

People's need for water and defecation will not stop in a disaster and too little water and too much excrement are the greatest immediate life threats to disaster survivors. Plan to deal with these early to save the most lives.

University of Maryland Section of Global Emergency Health

Author: Andi Tenner, MD, MPH

References

 

The Sphere Project. Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, 2011, 2011, ISBN 92-9139-097-6, available at: http://www.sphereproject.org/handbook/