title: Mexico City's Petroleos Mexicanos explosion: disaster management and air medical transport.
abstract: Mexico City is the largest metropolitan area in the Americas and 1 of the largest in the world; its geographic location and uncontrolled population and industrial growth make this metropolis prone to natural and human-made disasters. Mass casualty disaster responses in Mexico City tend to have complications from multiple logistical and operational challenges. This article focuses on the experiences and lessons learned from an explosion that occurred in a government building in Mexico City and the current status of mass casualty disaster risks and response strategies in Mexico City as well as air medical evacuation, which is a critical component and was shown to be extremely useful in the evacuation of 15 critically ill and polytraumatized patients (Injury Severity Score > 15). Several components of the public and privately owned emergency medical services and health care systems among Mexico City pose serious logistical and operational complications, which finally will be addressed by a joint emergency preparedness council to unify criteria in communications, triage, and incident/disaster command post establishment.
authors.affiliation: Wright State University Division of Aerospace Medicine, Dayton, OH; Mexico City's Police Department Helicopter Emergency Medical Services, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: urquietaordonez.2@wright.edu.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Urquieta
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care, University General Hospital, Houston, TX; Department of Acute and Continuing Care, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX; Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Varon
mesh_terms: D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000628:therapy; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005107:Explosions; D006801:Humans; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D008800:Mexico; D000066388:Oil and Gas Industry; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D014218:Triage; D014505:Urban Population