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Operation Room

Resilient Hospitals

Hospitals are a lifeline for any community. In rural areas a single hospital or clinic may be the only place to go for medical care. But at a time when people need them most, disasters can cripple these facilities. 

Utilities and roads can also suffer damage and fail, cutting off outside services.

 

To care for a surge of injured patients, and to keep functioning through challenging conditions, hospitals must prepare to go it alone. That’s why we help medical staff identify their crisis roles, plan how to evacuate, practice disaster response in realistic simulations, and avoid losses.We also help plan for backup water, power, communications, and critical supplies.

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“No one should survive a disaster and then die at a hospital due to poorly built facilities or system failure. Hospital resilience is more than ensuring the safety of facilities. It is also developing staff leaders who are ready to face the unexpected situation that many recent disasters have provoked.”

Garmalia Mentor-William, M.D.

Haiti Representative, GeoHazards International

Projects

Projects

Rapid Post Earthquake Community-Sourced Data Collection

2021

Haiti

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti’s southern peninsula in August 2021, causing extensive building failures that killed thousands.

Kathmandu Hospital Pre and Post Earthquake Assessments Compared

2017

Kathmandu, Nepal

Two Kathmandu hospitals had been assessed for disaster preparedness just before the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha earthquake. Pre- and post-earthquake findings are compared.

Disaster Scenarios for Risk-Informed Planning

2016 - 2019

West Nepal

Scenarios of a plausible earthquake quantify impacts, including more than 50% of schools damaged, and guide communities to reduce extreme risk before a disaster.

Review and Field Test of the Global Hospital Safety Index

2014

Solomon Islands, Nepal

Technical review and field testing of a World Health Organization (WHO) tool to screen hospitals’ vulnerabilities to multiple hazards as well as their level of emergency and disaster preparedness.

Hospital Disaster Planning, Preparedness and Training

2013, 2016-2019

Bhutan

Emergency planning and realistic disaster simulations for staff at hospitals in Bhutan, plus mitigations to keep the facilities functioning post disaster.

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“It is not enough that a hospital building itself withstands an earthquake, flood, fire, or terror attack. Critical equipment and services of the hospital have to remain running, at 300% of design capacity, to serve the dependent community.”

Hari Kumar, Ph.D.

South Asia Coordinator, GeoHazards International

News

Blog

Publications

Publications

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