Disaster Management

THE ACEH EXPERIENCE

K Harrison
Care Flight, Sydney, NSW

The Tsunami on Boxing day 2004 killed about 175,000 people in the province of Aceh in Indonesia about 75% of the total number killed by the Tsunami and about 30% of all people in the coastal areas of Aceh at the time. The response from the world in general and Australia in particular was immense and something we can all take pride in.

I am going to focus on the first two weeks after the event and describe what happened from an anaesthetic view point.

was part of the first medical team that responded to Aceh. There were 28 team members from a variety of disciplines medical, nursing, paramedic and logistics.

There were many positive aspects of this team, most were experienced in this work and all were experienced in their field. Most were also versatile, a number possessed good lateral thinking and all were disciplined.

The living conditions were Spartan, the physical environment was trying and the political environment was constantly changing.

We conducted about 120 operations over 9 days in three separate hospitals, using very basic anaesthetic equipment but with minimal complications.

This will be discussed as will the attributes necessary and desirable in an anaesthetist to do this kind of work.

Time of Presentation
Saturday 13 May 2006 - 1030-1200