Anesthesia department preparedness for a multiple-casualty incident: lessons learned from the Fukushima earthquake and the Japanese nuclear power disaster

Abstract

In the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011, many lives were lost in the accompanying giant tsunami. Fukushima prefecture was widely contaminated with radioactive substances emitted by the accident at the nuclear power plant. Only a few trauma and emergency patients were brought to our hospital by ambulance, and an unexpectedly small number of emergency surgeries performed. There were patients with radiation-induced sickness and injury, but no cases of severe exposure requiring surgery or intensive care. As a logistic support hospital, we should prepare for and simulate these cases to respond to any such future occurrence.