Disaster Case Study on Health Impact of the 2011 Fire Disaster in Bhutan

Thursday, April 26, 2012
B: Aklilu Lema Hall (Millennium Hall)
Emily Y. Y. Chan, MD, SMPIH(Harvard), DFPH, (UK) Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Kei Ching Kevin Hung The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Eliza YL Cheung Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Sergio Koo CERT-CUHK-Oxford University Disaster & Medical Humanitarian Response Centre , Hong Kong
Alvin H. Wong CERT-CUHK-Oxford University Disaster & Medical Humanitarian Response Centre , Hong Kong
Background: Whilst Asia is ranked as the most disaster prone region of the world in both natural and man-made disasters, research in the Asia-Pacific region is limited. This study is part of a 24 months, multi-country, multidisciplinary partner based project that aims to develop a series of disaster medical and public health case study in the Asia pacific region. Using an internationally standardized disaster incident reporting template developed of WADEM (2010), this specific project aims to delineate and to critically evaluate the health implications of a fire disaster in Bhutan that destroyed its major town, Bumthang on October 26th 2010.

Methods:  A four-person field based study to Bumthang, Bhutan was conducted within 1 week post disaster on November 3-10th 2011. The team conducted 18 stakeholder interviews, public record retrieval in ministries with disaster response responsibilities and had visited several disaster temporary settlements. Results of this study trip was reported according to the standardized disaster reporting template “Guidelines for reports on health crises and critical health events” developed by Kulling et al (2010). Definitions used in the report were compatible with UN-ISDR terminology and WADEM publications.

Results: The final report included evaluation of the pre-event status (background, public health preparedness, hazard involved, risk, vulnerability and resilience); the health crisis (primary event, secondary associated events), disaster response, lessons learnt and potential implications to future disaster related public health policy development to the study context. The result also included a discussion of the merits and constraints of applying the disaster reporting template for the evaluation of a real-time disaster.

Conclusion: The project provides a critical public health evaluation a recent fire disaster in Bhutan. The advantages and challenges of using an international standardized disaster case study reporting framework were also examined.


Learning Objectives: 1) To critically examine the health impact of a forgotten disaster through an international standardized disaster reporting template 2) To document a major disaster in Bhutan 3) To discuss the merits and constraints of applying the disaster reporting template for the evaluation of a real-time disaster.
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