Comparative Review on the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Relief Teams' Deployment to Sudden-Onset Disasters

COVID-19 and the expanding role of international urban search and rescue (USAR) teams: the case of the 2020 Beirut explosions

The paper conducts a case study on the international urban search and rescue (USAR) response to the Beirut explosions in August 2020. The incident is worth analysing because it was the first of the international USAR deployments under global travel restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. It will closely look at the activity of @fire Germany, which is self-recognised as a light USAR team, deployed to Beirut. Due to the arrangements imposed for COVID-19 prevention, it becomes more difficult for international USAR teams to arrive in affected areas quickly, meaning that the possibility for life-saving further decreases. Thus, international USAR teams must be flexible to contribute to early recovery activity after the completion of the search and rescue phase. The @fire Germany's response gives a good example of how light international USAR teams could contribute to early recovery. Also, some countries might not want to receive or send international USAR teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the COVID-19 era, strengthening national and local teams, or first responders, who are already in-country becomes critical to saving more lives.

Search without rescue? Evaluating the international search and rescue response to earthquake disasters

Earthquakes around the world are unnecessarily lethal and destructive, adversely affecting the health and well-being of affected populations. Most immediate deaths and injuries are caused by building collapse, making search and rescue (SAR) an early priority. In this review, we assess the SAR response to earthquake disasters. First, we review the evidence for the majority of individuals being rescued locally, often by relatives and neighbours. We then summarise evidence for successful live rescues by international SAR (ISAR) teams, along with the costs, ethics and other considerations of deployment. Finally, we propose an alternative approach to postdisaster ISAR, with the goal of reducing overall morbidity and mortality.

Decision Support Framework for Deployment of Emergency Medical Teams After Earthquakes

OBJECTIVE

The effectiveness of Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) is strongly related to their time of arrival, and usually only few teams arrive within 24-48 h postdisaster. The decision to deploy and the scale of deployment rely heavily on context and nature of the event and consequently a rapid assessment of needs/gaps is critical to an appropriate and customized response.

METHODS

In this study, we describe a desk-based study that provides: (1) knowledge about the medical needs that can be anticipated according to the phases of the disaster that is not rich in literature; and (2) a decision support framework for the deployment of EMTs to earthquakes that combines the results of a literature research and a Delphi study involving the opinion of 12 experts in the field.

RESULTS

The resulting framework is a tool that will help better mapping the configuration to the needs on the ground at the time the team becomes operational in the field and will assist those responsible for deploying and/or accepting EMTs in making informed decisions on deployment after an earthquake.

CONCLUSIONS

With additional research the framework approach may be adapted to other types of international relief such as to deploy a Search And Rescue (SAR) team.