Medical Mountain Rescue in the Yushu Earthquake: Have lessons been learned?

On April 14, 2010, an earthquake reaching 7.1 Richter scale struck Jiegu Town of Yushu, a mountain rescue operation promptly unfolded. All injurers have a direct assess to medical care, and immediately rescued and rapidly evacuated by air to Xining and Golmud at lower altitudes and admitted to advanced hospitals. Almost all of the injurers have been completely recovered. Yushu quake was a highest earthquake in the world, a high incidence of acute altitude illness, which was observed in about 80% of the lowland rescuers at an altitude of 4 000m. “Rescue the rescuers” becomes a major task of the Qinghai-Tibetan rescue teams, all the severe patients rapidly descend to Xining and treated promptly and effectively the outcome was excellent, all patients survived. After the quake, a long and arduous task of reconstruction of what has been destroyed. Medical teams continue to work in the Yushu quake area because some 30,000 workers and carders are now here for rebuilding where the quake was centered. Thus the treatment and prevention of altitude illness are still critical tasks for medical teams. Although all the fights were meet with success, there are more experiences and lessons we have been learned from the medical mountain rescue during the quake and the period of reconstruction, reported here are sum up of our experiences from the medical mountain rescue operation in Yushu earthquake and draw the lessons that we should be learned. With the possibly increased earthquake occurred in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, we also should be prepared against quake disasters and further rescue training in the high mountains will increased rescue capacities.