Disaster preparedness in health care

Natural disasters frequently cause major problems which affect a population's health and hinder a nation's socioeconomic development by draining its scarce financial resources in an effort to repair damages. For example, the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean is one of the worst natural disasters in modern times. Well over 200,000 people died and more than 1.5 million people lost their homes and often their livelihoods. Losses are estimated to total more than US dollar 7 billion. Private assets, including housing and business equipment, account for the largest share of the losses. In the largest countries, the impact on GDP is likely to be minimal, but the damage in the affected areas is extreme. Poor people were disproportionately affected. A country's health systems and public health infrastructure must be organised and ready to act in disaster situations as well as under normal conditions and must be cognisant of the type of measures to be taken in event of a disaster. These will differ according to the severity of the disaster's impact on the national health system.