The Sewol Ferry Disaster: Experiences of a Community-Based Hospital in Ansan City.
The Sewol ferry disaster is one of the most tragic events in Korea's modern history. Among the 476 people on board, which included Danwon High School students (324) and teachers (14), 304 passengers died in the disaster (295 recovered corpses and 9 missing) and 172 survived. Of the rescued survivors, 72 were attending Danwon High School, located in Ansan City, and residing in a residence nearby. Because the students were young, emotionally susceptible adolescents, both the government and the parents requested the students be grouped together at a single hospital capable of appropriate psychiatric care. Korea University Ansan Hospital was the logical choice, as the only third-tier university-grade hospital with the necessary faculty and facilities within the residential area of the families of the students. We report the experiences and the lessons learned from the processes of preparing for and managing the surviving young students as a community-based hospital. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:389-393).
1Department of Emergency Medicine,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Jong-Hak
JH
Park
1Department of Emergency Medicine,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Hanjin
H
Cho
1Department of Emergency Medicine,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Joo Yeong
JY
Kim
1Department of Emergency Medicine,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Joo-Hyun
JH
Song
1Department of Emergency Medicine,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Sungwoo
S
Moon
2Department of Radiology,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Sang Hoon
SH
Cha
3Department of Pediatrics,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Byung-Min
BM
Choi
4Department of Psychiatry,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Chang-Su
CS
Han
4Department of Psychiatry,Korea University Ansan Hospital,Ansan,Korea.
Young-Hoon
YH
Ko
5Ansan Public Health Center,Ansan,Korea.
Hongjae
H
Lee
D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012767:Ships; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055871:Tidal Waves
Korea; disaster; emergency preparedness; ferry accident