Suicide bombings: Process of care of mass casualties in the developing world

Masood Umer, Yasir J. Sepah, Munira M. Shahpurwala, Hasnain Zafar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In recent times Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, has witnessed numerous terrorist attacks. The city does not have an emergency response system and only one of the three public sector hospitals has a trauma centre. We describe the pattern of injuries and management of two terror-related mass casualty incidents involving suicide bombers in a developing nation with limited resources. The first incident occurred in May 2002 with 36 casualties, of whom 13 (36%) died immediately and 11 (30.5%) died at the primary receiving hospitals. The second incident was targeted against the local population in May 2004. The blast resulted in 104 casualties, of which 14 (13.46%) died at the site. All patients had their initial assessment and treatment based on Advanced Trauma and Life Support principles and documented on a trauma form.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)809-821
Number of pages13
JournalDisasters
Volume33
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Keywords

  • Emergency response system
  • Injuries
  • Mortality
  • Suicide bombing
  • Terrorism

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