Development and Validation of Telemedicine for Disaster Response: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Multinational System.

Background: Disasters, whether natural or manmade, are unpredictable. While there may be some forewarning as in natural disasters like a hurricane, response is often suboptimal. There is a need for an integrated and structured action for all three well defined phases of disaster management (pre-, during, and postdisaster) that must be addressed to ameliorate the impact on life and the necessary steps for recovery.