The role of an anesthesıst at the times of natural dısasters

The Word of disaster is originated from dus (bad) and aster (star) in latin language.In italian; disastro, in French ; dèsastre.It means that some natural events can cause harmful outcomes.Lots of natural disasters happened during the history also before humanbeings.They have greatly infl uenced the lives of living creatures whatever their results.The fi rst description of the disaster is thought to have started with "Noah's Ark " in human history.Later, it was widely reported in Greek, Mesopotamian and other cultures.Disasters are divided into two groups as natural or manmade disasters.The natural group is examined under the name of disasters that develop slowly (severe cold, drought, famine) and develop suddenly (earthquake, fl ood, landslide, avalanche, storm, hose, volcano, fi re) according to the time of their formation.Human disasters can be grouped as nuclear, biological, chemical attacks, terrorist attacks, transport accidents, industrial accidents, overcrowding accidents and migrants and displaced persons.The most important natural disasters in the world history are summarized in Table 1.The mostly seen disasters are the eartqukes in Turkey.The most important earthquakes in Turkey are listed in Table 1.During disasters, anesthesiologists may play a role in pre-hospital care, as an emergency trauma team leader or member, in the operating room, post-operative and intensive care, and during transport.Anesthesia is an area of expertise trained to intervene in a wide range of patients, from a healthy to a medically complex case to pediatrics to geriatrics.Anesthesiologists have valuable skills in physical and toxic traumas before and during hospitalization.In some parts of the world, anesthesiologists are team leaders especially in AbstractDuring disasters, anesthesiologists may play a main role.It is known that anesthesiologist is extremely effective and capable in the management emergency cases during disaster times.In times of disaster, the anesthetist should not get stuck in the operating room only, with his experiences of intensive care and emergency response.Anesthetic management of patients in disaster situations is full of challenges for the anesthetist.The role of anesthesiologist after disaster is important to handle a safe and ideal surgical condition.A limited number of anesthesiologists in developing countries work in disaster preparedness and disaster management.In this review, we aimed to discuss the role and choices of anesthetists during disasters with examples.