Review of Injuries from Terrorist Bombings and Earthquakes
Abstract
Terrorist bombings and earthquakes provide valuable insight on the types of injuries that may occur in an improvised nuclear device (IND) scenario. Review of blast events provided information on injuries from overpressure, tumbling, debris, burn, and crush injuries. Data from eighteen case studies based on 432 bombings revealed 16,699 different injuries among 6,554 casualties. Injury types included wounds, fractures, and burns. Body areas typically involved the head and neck, extremities, and soft tissues. Glass shattering was a common source of injury. Eight earthquake case studies were reviewed with 6,775 injuries reported for 4,526 casualties. The most common types of wound and body regions include fractures, crush, and contusions and extremities, back, and hip. Earthquake injuries primarily originate from building collapse causing persons to be hit, trapped, or crushed by building parts. The report details the spectrum and quantity of injuries resulting from blast and earthquakes, thereby providing valuable information for response planning for an IND. Knowledge concerning anticipated injury types provide data for casualty estimation and help inform medical response planning and resource requirements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1015927
Entities
People
- Amber Mcclung
- Daniela Stricklin
- Tyler Dant
- Valerie Asadian
Organizations
- Applied Research Associates (United States)