ABSTRACT

Victims of disasters will have greater possibilities of survival if emergency services follow pre-established protocols on organization and care, favoring in this way the optimal use of resources. The cornerstone of these protocols is the quick implementation of a commanding post in disaster (CPD), which is held by a single person and avoids initiation of independent actions by the personnel that lead chaotic situations. This CPD must coordinate all other sectors (of rescue or extraction, of treatment, of transportation, of expectation, of supplies or replenishment and, optionally, of triage or patient selection according to severity of lesions), each one focused in a specific objective and directed by a leader. Coordinated activity of all these sectors under a unified plan allows a more efficacious assistance to victims. It is essential that the community has an agency that plans, coordinates and provides assistance in disasters, and emergency medical services have moral and ethic obligation to collaborate with these plans and procedures.

KEYWORDS

Disasters, rescue work, prehospitalary emergency care.

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