Care of children in a natural disaster: lessons learned from the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami

Title: Care of children in a natural disaster: lessons learned from the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami

Author: Takeo Yonekura, Shigeru Ueno, Tadashi Iwanaka

Reference: Pediatric Surgery International, October 2013, Volume 29, Issue 10, pp 1047-1051

DOI: 10.1007/s00383-013-3405-6

Keywords: Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear accident, Natural disaster, Children

Abstract: The Great East Japan earthquake was one of the most devastating natural disasters ever to hit Japan. We present features of the disaster and the radioactive accident in Fukushima. About 19,000 are dead or remain missing mainly due to the tsunami, but children accounted for only 6.5 % of the deaths. The Japanese Society of Pediatric Surgeons set up the Committee of Aid for Disaster, and collaborated with the Japanese Society of Emergency Pediatrics to share information and provide pediatric medical care in the disaster area. Based on the lessons learned from the experiences, the role of pediatric surgeons and physicians in natural disasters is discussed.

ＵＲＬ：http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00383-013-3405-6

National mental health care system following radiation accidents and radiological terroristic attacks

Author: Loganovsky K., Bomko M.

Reference: Abstracts of the 8^th International LOWRAD Conference «The effects of low doses and very low doses of ionizing radiation on human health and biotopes», 28– 30 September 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. — Rio de Janeiro, 2009. — P. 116

Chernobyl: Living with risk and uncertainty

Title: Chernobyl: Living with risk and uncertainty

Author: Pamela Abbott, Claire Wallace, Professor Matthias Beck

Reference: Health, Risk & Society , Volume 8, Issue 2, 2006, pages 105-121

DOI:10.1080/13698570600677167

Keywords: Nuclear accidents, risk society, biographical disruption

Abstract: The nuclear accident in Chernobyl in 1986 is a dramatic example of the type of incidents that are characteristic of a ‘risk society’. The consequences of the incident are indeterminate, the causes complex and future developments unpredictable. Nothing can compensate for its effects and it affects a broad population indiscriminately. This paper examines the lived experience of those who experienced biographical disruption as residents of the region on the basis of qualitative case studies carried out in 2003 in the Chernobyl regions of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Our analysis indicates that informants tend to view their future as highly uncertain and unpredictable; they experience uncertainty about whether they are already contaminated, and they have to take hazardous decisions about where to go and what to eat. Fear, rumours and experts compete in supplying information to residents about the actual and potential consequences of the disaster, but there is little trust in, and only limited awareness of, the information that is provided. Most informants continue with their lives and ‘do what they must’ or even ‘what they like’, even where the risks are known. They often describe their behaviour as being due to economic circumstances; where there is extreme poverty, even hazardous food sources are better than none. Unlike previous studies, we identify a pronounced tendency among informants not to separate the problems associated with the disaster from the hardships that have resulted from the break-up of the USSR, with both events creating a deep-seated sense of resignation and fatalism. Although most informants hold their governments to blame for lack of information, support and preventive measures, there is little or no collective action to have these put in place. This contrasts with previous research which has suggested that populations affected by disasters attribute crucial significance to that incident and, as a consequence, become increasingly politicized with regard to related policy agendas.

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13698570600677167#.Ub5-XdhLOM1

Thyroid cancer in children and young adults in the North of England. Is increasing incidence related to the Chernobyl accident?

Title: Thyroid cancer in children and young adults in the North of England. Is increasing incidence related to the Chernobyl accident?

Author: Cotterill, S.J. / Pearce, M.S. / Parker, L.

Reference: European Journal of Cancer, 37 (8), p.1020-1026, May 2001

doi: 10.1016/S0959-8049(00)00449-4

Keywords: Thyroid neoplasms; Childhood cancer; Young adults; Iodine radioisotopes; Nuclear accidents

Abstract: Population-based data on thyroid carcinomas was obtained from the Northern Region Young Person’s Malignant Disease Registry to analyse the incidence of thyroid cancers in young people (<25 years) in the North of England for the period 1968 and 1997 and to assess if changes in incidence were consistent with the spatial and temporal distribution of the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. We compared incidence rates for differentiated (papillary or follicular) thyroid carcinomas 1968–1986 with those for 1987–1997. …These temporal and spatial changes in incidence are consistent with a causal association with the Chernobyl accident although a greater effect in the younger rather than the older age group would have been anticipated. However, factors including improvements in ascertainment and earlier detection of tumours may also have contributed to the increasing incidence. …

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959804900004494

Thyroid cancer in children and young adults in the North of England. Is increasing　incidence related to the Chernobyl accident?

Title: Thyroid cancer in children and young adults in the North of England. Is increasing　incidence related to the Chernobyl accident?

Author: Cotterill, S.J. / Pearce, M.S. / Parker, L.

Reference: European Journal of Cancer, 37 (8), p.1020-1026, May 2001

doi: 10.1016/S0959-8049(00)00449-4

Keywords: Thyroid neoplasms; Childhood cancer; Young adults; Iodine radioisotopes;　Nuclear

Abstract: Population-based data on thyroid carcinomas was obtained from the Northern Region Young Person’s Malignant Disease Registry to analyse the incidence of thyroid cancers in young people (<25 years) in the North of England for the period 1968 and 1997 and to assess if changes in incidence were consistent with the spatial and temporal distribution of the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. We compared incidence rates for differentiated (papillary or follicular) thyroid carcinomas 1968–1986 with those for 1987–1997. …

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959804900004494