Public Health and Medical Consequences in Earthquakes

During the past 20 years, earthquakes alone have caused more than a million deaths worldwide (3). Nine countries (Armenia, Chile, China, Guatemala, Iran, Italy, Japan, Peru, and Turkey) account for more than 80% of all fatalities in this century, and almost half of the total number of earthquake casualties in the world during this period have occurred in China alone (4). In just the past 10 years, Iran in 1990 has experienced one of the four catastrophic earthquakes resulting 40 000 deaths (3). The number of casualties caused by an earthquake will depend on its magnitude, its proximity to an urban center, and the degree of earthquake disaster preparedness and mitigation measures implemented in the urban center closest to where the earthquake takes place.