The action of Amagasaki City Health Center to the train derailment accident on the Japan Railway Fukuchiyama Line

Objectives To examine and describe the reactions of Amagasaki City Health Center to the train derailment accident that occurred on April 25th, 2005 on the Japan Railway (JR) Fukuchiyama Line in order to provide useful information for health centers to help them deal with such catastrophic disasters in the future. Methods Each day after the accident reactions and actions were examined and described. They included mental health care provided by the health center for the inhabitants of the condominium building into which the derailed train had crashed, as well as the volunteers who participated in the rescue work. Health checkups were also provided for the latter. Results Actions directly related to the rescue were continued by the health center for four days after the accident. The mainly consisted of the following. The health center asked hospitals to input information concerming their ability to respond to the emergency situation into the Hyogo Emergency Medical Information System. A relief party was organized by the health center staff and engaged in the rescue and on-site rescue triage. The health center slso coordinated the mortuary work. Two days after the accident, “postmortem triage,” to insure that bodies were taken directly to a mortuary after death certification by a physician was needed on site after rescue triage was concluded. The health center confirmed all information for the passengers’ safety. The rescue volunteers and the nearby inhabitants who were affected consulted with the person in charge of mental health care provided by the health center from immediately after the accicent for a period of five months to September 30. Health checkups for rescue volunteers were conducted for infections and post-traumatic stress disorder. Conclusions This JR accident was characterized by many civilian volunteers engaged in rescue over the relatively long period of rescue of four days. Mental health care and health checkups were needed for civililian volunteers and were therefore provided by the health center. During the four days of rescue, triage was begun immediately after the accident and subsequent postmortem triage was also required.