Elsevier

Disaster Management & Response

Volume 1, Issue 4, October–December 2003, Pages 105-109
Disaster Management & Response

Feature article
Earthquakes in El Salvador: a descriptive study of health concerns in a rural community and the clinical implications, part i

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1540-2487(03)00049-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Introduction

This is the first article in a series that evaluates the health concerns of people living in a Salvadoran rural community after major earthquakes. Part I reviews the background, methods, and results of post-earthquake conditions with regards to healthcare, access to healthcare, housing, food, water and sanitation. Part II reviews the implications of these results and recommendations for improvements within the community. Part III investigates the psychosocial and mental health consequences of the earthquakes and provides suggestions for improved mental health awareness, assessment, and intervention.

Background

El Salvador experienced 2 major earthquakes in January and February 2001. This study evaluates the effects of the earthquakes on the health practices in the rural town of San Sebastian.

Methods

The research was conducted with use of a convenience sample survey of subjects affected by the earthquakes. The sample included 594 people within 100 households. The 32-question survey assessed post-earthquake conditions in the areas of health care and access to care, housing, food and water, and sanitation.

Results

Communicable diseases affected a number of family members. After the earthquakes, 38% of households reported new injuries, and 79% reported acute exacerbations of chronic illness. Rural inhabitants were 30% more likely to have an uninhabitable home than were urban inhabitants. Concerns included safe housing, water purification, and waste elimination.

Conclusion

The findings indicate a need for greater public health awareness and community action to adapt living conditions after a disaster and prevent the spread of communicable disease.

Section snippets

Nursing students without borders

Beginning in August 2000, Nursing Students Without Borders (NSWB) visited the town of San Sebastian with the mission of “promoting health awareness, building networks to access health care resources and distributing material donations to developing world communities, while expanding the perspective of the nursing student.”2 NSWB is a student-run organization at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. Since August 2001, NSWB has made four additional trips to San Sebastian. The goals of

Design

A convenience sample of 100 households representing 594 family members was obtained from the Public Health Clinic and Red Cross Clinic of San Sebastian.

Sample

Residents of rural farming areas made up 59% of interviewees; whereas, 41% of participants were urban (i.e., town residents of San Sebastian) (Table 1). The only inclusion criteria for the study were 18 years of age or older when interviewed, living in the town of San Sebastian or the surrounding area, and being affected by the January and

Demographics

Interviews were conducted on 100 households; the overall response rate was 99%. The initial demographic analysis evaluated 594 individual family members on the basis of relation to the respondent, age, education, occupation, and a health history. This demographic data pertained to each individual member of the household. Of the entire study sample, the mean age was 27.4 years (SD = 22.7 years) (see Table 1). An equal number of male and female subjects participated in the study. Students (158

Summary

This study evaluated 594 individual family members in 100 households. The primary preexisting health concerns were hypertension, renal disease, heart disease, tobacco use and alcohol use. New injuries occurred in 38% of the households with 79% had a member that experienced an exacerbation of a chronic disease. Of the households surveyed, 48% needed to use healthcare resources after the earthquakes with 85% reporting the receipt of some form of assistance. Over 52% of homes were uninhabitable.

Joanna C. Woersching, RN, BSN, is nurse clinician I at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA

References (9)

  • G. Fernandez et al.

    Earthquakes in El Salvador

    Epidemiol Bull

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  • Nursing Students Without Borders. About Nursing Students Without Borders. Available at...
  • Con Mucho hambre y sin ayuda. El Diario de Hoy 2001;Jan...
  • S. Candiotti

    El Salvador fears epidemic: earthquake death continues to rise. Available at http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/01/16/quake.03/

    (2001)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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    In addition to using the pneumococcal vaccine for disaster-affected populations, the provision of optimal living conditions, medical check-ups and oral hygiene care must be a priority for older people after natural disasters. Previous studies showed that acute respiratory infections were frequently observed among people displaced by the 2001 earthquake in El Salvador,5 among those affected by the 2003 Bam earthquake in Iran6 and among people in Aceh Province affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.7 Furthermore, severe pneumonia associated with the aspiration of seawater, known as ‘tsunami lung’, was reported in areas affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.8–10

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Joanna C. Woersching, RN, BSN, is nurse clinician I at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA

Audrey E. Snyder, MSN, RN, CEN, ACNP-CS, is an assistant professor at the School of Nursing and a nurse practitioner in emergency medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

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