Unforeseen difficulties faced by a hospital in dealing with mass disaster victims.

Every major mass disaster challenges the health care services, especially in the third world. These challenges include the expected situations mainly pertaining to the overload of patients and the stretching of hospital facilities. We report our experiences about several unforseen challenges faced by our hospital in the 2005 earthquake that struck the Kashmir region.

'Damage control orthopaedics' in patients with delayed referral to a tertiary care center: experience from a place where Composite Trauma Centers do not exist.

Background: Management of orthopaedic injuries in polytrauma cases continues to challenge the orthopaedic traumatologist. Mass disasters compound this challenge further due to delayed referral. Recently there has been increasing evidence showing that damage control surgery has advantages that are absent in the early total care modality.

The Kashmir Earthquake Experience.

On October 8, 2005, a major earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Around 90,000 people died in the mass disaster.