DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i10.067

Pages: 4151-4154

The large number casualties resulting from the 1995 Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake created a massive demand for medical care. Thus, the Japanese government decided to establish Japan Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (J-DMATs), as “mobile, trained medical teams”. As J-DMATs have performed outstandingly during large-scale disasters, many other medical associations have attempted to establish J-DMAT-like medical teams of their own. Shizuoka Prefecture also started establishing a local-DMAT in 2016. An education and training course for recruiting members for a local disaster medical assistance team in Shizuoka Prefecture were held at Shizuoka General Hospital in 2017. This course contained lectures, simulation drills, skills training and a test. The course was a 2-day course of approximately 18 hour in during in which 33 people participated. At the end of the course, all participants underwent and passed their examinations. A questionnaire survey showed that all participants were highly satisfied with this course. In the event of a catastrophic large-scale disaster, all resources—both material and human—will be needed in order to ensure an early favorable outcome. In the near future, the coordinated and combined use of local- and J-DMATs will be beneficial, helping significantly reduce human suffering in large-scale disasters.