Causes of death and demographic characteristics of victims of meteorological disasters in Korea from 1990 to 2008

Environmental Health

Research

Jae-Yeon Jang¹  Hyung-Nam Myung¹ 

[1] Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea;

关键词: climate change;    disasters;    flood;    typhoon;    death rate;    vulnerability;    epidemiology;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-10-82

 received in 2011-03-10, accepted in 2011-09-27,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMeteorological disasters are an important component when considering climate change issues that impact morbidity and mortality rates. However, there are few epidemiological studies assessing the causes and characteristics of deaths from meteorological disasters. The present study aimed to analyze the causes of death associated with meteorological disasters in Korea, as well as demographic and geographic vulnerabilities and their changing trends, to establish effective measures for the adaptation to meteorological disasters.MethodsDeaths associated with meteorological disasters were examined from 2,045 cases in Victim Survey Reports prepared by 16 local governments from 1990 to 2008. Specific causes of death were categorized as drowning, structural collapse, electrocution, lightning, fall, collision, landslide, avalanche, deterioration of disease by disaster, and others. Death rates were analyzed according to the meteorological type, specific causes of death, and demographic and geographic characteristics.ResultsDrowning (60.3%) caused the greatest number of deaths in total, followed by landslide (19.7%) and structural collapse (10.1%). However, the causes of deaths differed between disaster types. The meteorological disaster associated with the greatest number of deaths has changed from flood to typhoon. Factors that raised vulnerability included living in coastal provinces (11.3 times higher than inland metropolitan), male gender (1.9 times higher than female), and older age.ConclusionsEpidemiological analyses of the causes of death and vulnerability associated with meteorological disasters can provide the necessary information for establishing future adaptation measures against climate change. A more comprehensive system for assessing disaster epidemiology needs to be established.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Myung and Jang; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011