The Epidemiological Properties of Abnormal Events Alper BEDER MD, PhD, MSc.

The humans are being treated more and more by the powers of nature like earthquakes, floods, hurricaines/tornados and cold waves.

Compared with the 1960’s the number of Abnormal events with natural causes have tripled and the cost to the world has increased 9 times.

Only the abnormal events caused by natural causes have caused 3 milllion of deaths and 800 milyon people to be effected in the last 20 years.

The direct cost of the infrastructure related to the abnormal events caused by natural causes is calculated as 71 billion $ for the year 1998.

Because of wars and conflicts 13.5 million people had to leave their homes within their countries and 12.4 million had to be a refugee to another country.

The defense against devastating natural disasters has been destroyed by Deforestation, And in conditions where it is hard to foresee the power of the wind, rain and sun because of global warming almost like 1 billion people are living at high risk in slums (gecekondu) built without any plan.

Storms,(hurricaines/tornados) Flood, Drought, Volcano eruption becomes a disaster in unprepared communities Especially in developing countries the results of these natural events could be devastating.

Poor people are effected more because; They can’t afford the expenses of their house to be resistant to the sismic activity. Usually the settle down in places like on fault lines, along sea and river sides where the flood, storm and wave risks are high

Because; Live in bad houses, bad conditions and places close to industrial areas Don’t possess life saving atttitudes and skills they should peform when an abnormal event occurs because they don’t make use of the educational opportunities Even in normal conditions they reach to health services and emergency health services like 112, reaching by phone less than others.

Between the years More than 90% of the abnormal events are seen in poor continents like Asia and Africa. 96% of deaths caused by abnormal events by natural events are seen in the most poorest countries which consists 66% of the world population.

There is more than 1 million earthquakes in the world every year (almost like in every 2 minutes) Within last 20 years Caused 1 million deaths More than 80% of that happened in 8 countries (China, Japan, Italia, Peru, Turkey, Russia, Chili,Pakistan) According to ; Magnitude of the earthquake, Closeness to the City center, Disater preparedness and Prevention strategies The emergency cases diffrer.

The factors that increases Morbidity and Mortality in Earthquakes The reason of the morbidity and mortality of the earthquakes Varies in every earthquake; However some environmental and personal factors also have effects too.

Landslide Landslides buries the villages and the houses at the foothills Especially plugs the roads at mountains and destroy them Plugs the riverbeds and creates dams or causes dams to be demolished and therefore causing floods.

Rearguard Earthquakes Most eartquakes are followed by very strong rearguard shocks as strong as itself. This can cause second time life and property losses.

Yerel Hava Koşulları ve Oluş Zamanı The local wheather conditions effects the wounded waiting to be saved the most. The time of the earthquake has an iportant effect on the morbidity and mortality. The earthquakes happening at nights since it is sleeping time causes much more deaths. However in city centers where business centers with high buildings and lots of schools, the earthquakes during day times also causes significant losses.

Harmful Substances The earthquake; Can harm;  Nuclear power station,  Research centers,  Hydrocarbon storages And Causing harm by letting out the chemical and toxic substances

Fire Risk The fire is the most serious one among the secondary to abnormal events following the earthquake. The places mostly get harmed are, The areas where the slums (gecekondular) unoffical houses are Temporary settlements

Some factors causing high risk in developing countries Female, Child between 5-9 year’s old, Over 60 year’s old, Living in adobe/briquette houses, Living in concrete buildings, living in 2nd or higher levels, Staying under the ruins, Be petrified during the earthquake, Sleeping during the earthquake.