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Managing disaster and relief operations: Expertise and experience from Japan

Edited by: Prof Shinichi Tokuno

When referring to disaster medicine, one must take into account the characteristics of the disaster in each region. In Japan, there are many natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons. Thus disaster medicine has developed uniquely as it gained experience through managing some of the most devastating natural disasters in recent years. Specifically, remarkable development has taken place following the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995. This series is a collection of papers written by the leading experts of Japanese disaster medical system and focusing on activities in the Great East Japan Earthquake. The series includes five categories: Evacuation, Mental health, Disaster Medical Assistant Team, Body identification and Military - military co-operation. These topics would become the future of disaster medicine and will allow to gather more evidence on best practices and successful deployments.

  1. In Japan, participants in the disaster-specific medical transportation system have received ongoing training since 2002, incorporating lessons learned from the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The Great East Japan Ea...

    Authors: Tetsu Okumura and Shinichi Tokuno
    Citation: Disaster and Military Medicine 2015 1:19
  2. On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced an unprecedented combination of earthquake/tsunami/nuclear accidents (the Great East Japan Earthquake; GEJE). We sought to identify mental health and psychosocial consequen...

    Authors: Nahoko Harada, Jun Shigemura, Masaaki Tanichi, Kyoko Kawaida, Satomi Takahashi and Fumiko Yasukata
    Citation: Disaster and Military Medicine 2015 1:17