Perinatal medical support in the area surrounding the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake.

After natural disaster, perinatal medical care must usually be provided from outside the disaster area, because most of the medical efforts inside the area focus on patients without special needs. This study reviews the emergency perinatal medical response after the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. In the present study, we summarize records of telephone calls and reports from the Neonatal Mutual Cooperative System (NMCS). The day of the earthquake, very little information was available to or from the disaster area. The day after the earthquake, Osaka City General Hospital (OCGH) and Osaka Medical Center and Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health were established as key facilities, and OCGH served as a center through which information passed to and from the disaster area. Most telephone calls to OCGH were placed on the second day after the earthquake by pregnant women concerned about their deliveries. Many high-risk pregnancies and newborn infants were transferred out of the disaster area over the next month. This analysis shows that although the emergency response was very rapid in this instance, the operation may be significantly improved in disasters of this magnitude: (i) if a communication mechanism able to serve a large volume is established; (ii) if helicopter transport was easily available; and (iii) if key facilities to handle communications were previously established so as to be available immediately.