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The Australian medical response to Typhoon Haiyan

Nicholas R Coatsworth
Med J Aust 2014; 201 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/mja14.00306
Published online: 15 December 2014

Our well equipped civilian professionals made a rapid and valuable contribution to internationally coordinated aid

On the morning of 8 November 2013, category 5 Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Typhoon Yolanda) made first landfall over Eastern Samar province in the Philippines. Sustained, damaging winds of 235 km/h gusting to 275 km/h were accompanied by a tidal storm surge and subsequent inundation. The official number of fatalities stands at 6190, with 28 626 injuries attributed to the event, and over 16 million people affected.1


  • 1 National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, Darwin, NT.
  • 2 Infectious Diseases, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT.



Acknowledgements: 

On behalf of the AUSMAT deployees, I acknowledge the government of the Philippines and the Philippines Department of Health for their collaboration, and the people of Tacloban and Leyte province for allowing us to provide medical care. I acknowledge the support of Australia's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Baggoley AO, members of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, and the staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Health, Emergency Management Australia, Royal Australian Air Force and the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, all of whom contributed to the deployment.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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  • 3. Norton I, von Schreeb J, Aitken P, et al. Classification and minimum standards for foreign medical teams in sudden onset disasters. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2013. http://www.who.int/entity/hac/global_health_cluster/fmt_guidelines_september2013.pdf?ua=1 (accessed Jul 2014).
  • 4. Australian Health Protection Principal Committee. National AUSMAT manual. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, 2012.
  • 5. Johnson K, Idzerda L, Baras R, et al. Competency-based standardized training for humanitarian providers: making humanitarian assistance a professional discipline. Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2013; 7: 369-372.
  • 6. Redmond AD, Mardel S, Taithe B, et al. A qualitative and quantitative study of the surgical and rehabilitation response to the earthquake in Haiti, January 2010. Prehosp Disaster Med 2011; 26: 449-456.
  • 7. Crippen D, Krin C, Lorich D, Mattox K. Disaster medicine: the caring contradiction. Crit Care 2010; 14: 133-134.
  • 8. Bradt DA, Drummond CM. Professionalization of disaster medicine – an appraisal of criterion-referenced qualifications. Prehosp Disaster Med 2007; 22: 360-368.

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