An analysis of Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) deployments in the United States

To determine the prevalence and types of disasters on which Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) teams have been deployed.

This descriptive study used the websites of the 42 DMAT teams in the United States with information confirmed by NDMS websites for a historical analysis of DMAT team deployment. All 42 DMAT teams were included in the analysis from 1985 through 2002. One DMAT team did not have a website, so they were contacted by phone.

From 1985 through 2002 DMAT teams were deployed for 50 disasters: 41 natural (41/50=82%), and 9 man-made disasters (9/50=18%). Of the 41 natural disasters, there were 17 hurricanes/tropical storms (17/41=41.6%), 10 floods (10/41=24.3%), 7 earthquakes (7/41=17.0%), 4 fires (4/41=9.8%), 2 blizzards/ice storms (2/41=4.9%), and 1 tornado (1/41=2.4%). Of the 9 man-made disasters, there were 3 terrorist attacks (3/9=33.3%), 2 epidemics (2/9=22.2%), 2 plane crashes (2/9=22.2%), 1 fire (1/9=11.1%) and 1 relief mission (1/9=11.1%). Of the 8 disasters outside of the United States, there were 4 earthquakes (4/8=50%), 2 tropical storms (2/8=25%), 1 wildfire (1/8=12.5%) and 1 relief mission (1/8=12.5%). There were also numerous "stand-by" deployments.

The majority (over 80%) of DMAT team deployments from 1985 through 2002 were for natural disasters, although there has been an increase in "man-made" disasters in recent years with terrorist attacks being the most frequent man-made disaster. DMAT teams have also been deployed on missions outside the United States, most often responding to earthquakes and secondly for hurricanes/tropical storms. There has been a prevalence of "water-related" natural disasters including hurricanes/tropical storms and floods, which accounted for three fourths of all natural disasters (25/34=73.5%) and about two thirds of all (natural and man-made) disasters (25/43=59.5%) in the United States over an 18 year period. Recent events including hurricane Katrina suggest that our finding of a prevalence of "water-related" natural disasters is a reliable trend. In the future, DMAT teams need to be prepared to function in a variety of disasters, both natural and man-made, although resources and planning must include "water-related" disasters because they comprise the majority of disasters in the United States.