J Korean Med Sci.  2013 May;28(5):658-666. 10.3346/jkms.2013.28.5.658.

Incidence and Mortality Rates of Disasters and Mass Casualty Incidents in Korea: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study, 2000-2009

• Kim SJ
• Kim CH
• Shin SD
• Lee SC
• Park JO
• Sung J

• KMID: 1777551
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2013.28.5.658

Abstract

The objective of study was to evaluate the incidence and mortality rates of disasters and mass casualty incidents (MCIs) over the past 10 yr in the administrative system of Korea administrative system and to examine their relationship with population characteristics. This was a population-based cross-sectional study. We calculated the nationwide incidence, as well as the crude mortality and injury incidence rates, of disasters and MCIs. The data were collected from the administrative database of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and from provincial fire departments from January 2000 to December 2009. A total of 47,169 events were collected from the NEMA administrative database. Of these events, 115 and 3,079 cases were defined as disasters and MCIs that occurred in Korea, respectively. The incidence of technical disasters/MCIs was approximately 12.7 times greater than that of natural disasters/MCIs. Over the past 10 yr, the crude mortality rates for disasters and MCIs were 2.36 deaths per 100,000 persons and 6.78 deaths per 100,000 persons, respectively. The crude injury incidence rates for disasters and MCIs were 25.47 injuries per 100,000 persons and 152 injuries per 100,000 persons, respectively. The incidence and mortality of disasters/MCIs in Korea seem to be low compared to that of trend around the world.

Keyword

Disasters; Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs); Epidemiology

MeSH Terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Databases, Factual
Disasters/*statistics & numerical data
Humans
Incidence
Mass Casualty Incidents/*mortality
Republic of Korea/epidemiology

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The number of events and people affected by disasters from 2000 to 2009. The incidence of disasters had no time-series trend characteristics, but the casualties were in proportion to the incidence of disasters.

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  Fig. 2 The number of events and people affected by mass casualty incidents (MCIs) from 2000 to 2009. The number of MCIs and casualties has increased from the early of 2000s to late of 2000s, but the incidence of MCIs had no time-series trend characteristics. Also, the casualties are proportional to the incidence of MCIs.

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