Health problems among disaster responders to the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake: a cross-sectional study

Health problems among disaster responders to the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake: a cross-sectional study

The aim of this study was to describe perceived health problems among disaster responders after the earthquake in eastern Turkey/Syria in February 2023.

A total of 525 local (18%) and international disaster responders (81%) participated in the study. Of these responders, 46% reported physical or mental health problems during or after their deployment, 15% required medical care during the mission, and 7% required medical evacuation. The most common health problems during the field mission were feeling scared or unsafe, sleeping problems, and headache. After the mission, fatigue, sleeping problems, and feeling depressed were the most frequently reported health problems. The local responders perceived significantly more health problems than did the international responders. Approximately 11% of the participants could not return to their ordinary work after deployment because of infections or mental health issues.

Karin Hugelius, Jason Murphy & Karin Blomberg

https://bmcemergmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12873-024-01143-2

BMC Emergency Medicine

02 december 2024

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