Hospital earthquake safety campaign kicks off in India
As part of its long-term commitment to corporate responsibility in India, Swiss Re has partnered with an international nonprofit organisation, GeoHazards International (GHI), and a New Delhi-based nonprofit organisation, GeoHazards Society (GHS), to launch a multi-year campaign to improve hospital earthquake safety in India.
”The recent tragic earthquakes in Chile and Haiti are adding urgent alarm calls for pre-disaster risk mitigation,” said Mr Dhananjay Date, Managing Director of Swiss Re Services India Private Limited. “Recognising their crucial role in post-disaster relief work, India’s hospital sector needs to get better prepared to cope with major earthquake disasters.”
To support this, Swiss Re, GHI and GHS are helping Indian hospitals mitigate their earthquake risks through a multi-year corporate responsibility programme, extending the reach of programmes that began in 2007 with a detailed but easy-to-use manual, “Reducing Earthquake Risk in Hospitals from Equipment, Contents, Architectural Elements and Building Utility Systems”, to help hospitals take steps to keep functioning and saving lives after an earthquake.
Hospital earthquake safety manual launched
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), India’s highest authority on disaster management, was involved in the development of the manual, which was released nationally by Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, at an event at NDMA in Delhi.
The manual provides guidelines on how to reduce earthquake-related damage and losses to hospitals’ medical equipment and supplies, contents, architectural elements and building utility systems. Damage to these items can mean stoppage of essential medical services or even cause deaths and injuries even when the building structure remains essentially undamaged.
The manual also contains such information as how to determine a hospital’s earthquake risk; identify items that could fall, slide or topple and injure people; anchor and brace those items to reduce risk; and priortise actions to reduce risk according to the hospital’s needs and budget.
General NC Vij, Vice Chairman, NDMA said: “This manual is a comprehensive tool with numerous practical and graphic details to enable all hospital administrators and departmental in-charges to initiate safety measures within their area of influence.”
Dr Brian Tucker, GHI President, said: “This manual provides a valuable resource to Indian hospitals, as they improve their ability to withstand an earthquake and to serve their community, without interruption. We look forward to working with Swiss Re to help hospitals in India’s most earthquake-prone regions apply the manual’s guidance to protect their staff and patients.”
Awareness campaign started, followed by training and implementation activities in hospitals.
To raise awareness about this manual, a direct mailing campaign has started to reach all major hospitals in 23 earthquake-prone states in India. Hospitals can request free hard copies of the manual. With Swiss Re’s funding, GHI is developing a set of professional training materials to complement the manual and to facilitate “training-of-trainers” programmes for hospitals. Starting from the second half of 2010, GHI will conduct free training workshops and implementation activities in some hospitals in earthquake-prone states in India. Both Swiss Re and GHI aim to extend these activities to more locations in India in the coming years.
This multi-year project marks a continued collaboration back to 2008, when Swiss Re funded the GHI-organised workshop, “Integrating Earthquake Risk Mitigation into Hospital Facilities Planning”, attracting more than 150 hospital and healthcare sector stakeholders from medical institutions in and around Delhi. This clear interest convinced both parties of the need to broaden their efforts to include all earthquake-prone areas in India.
Notes to editors:
The hospital earthquake safety manual can be downloaded free of charge from the GHI website at www.geohaz.org/hospitalsafetymanual. Hospitals can also request free hard copies by contacting GHS, New Delhi.