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Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards pp 471–474Cite as

Hospitals in Disaster

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 219 Accesses

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Hospital crisis management; Hospital disaster preparedness; Hospital emergency management; Hospital emergency preparedness

Definition

Hospital emergency management. A combination of actions, programs, processes, and capabilities that allows a hospital organization and its constituent departments to prepare for, respond to, and recover from major emergencies and disasters while maintaining critical functions.

Introduction

Hospitals are an essential community resource on a daily basis and even more so during and after a disaster (e.g., Ardagh et al., 2012). A hospital that cannot withstand the effects of a disaster not only cannot provide its critical services at the time of greatest need, it adds to the burden of the disaster (e.g., Kirsch et al., 2010): its skilled staff and vulnerable patients and visitors are likely to become victims as well. As succinctly stated by the Hospitals Safe from Disasters program (WHO and ISDR, 2008), “A safe hospital: will not collapse in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, 11945 SW 70th Ave., Tigard, OR, 97223, USA

    Dr. Jeffrey N. Rubin (Emergency Manager)

Authors
  1. Dr. Jeffrey N. Rubin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffrey N. Rubin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

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Rubin, J.N. (2013). Hospitals in Disaster. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_171

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