Terremoto na Colômbia: Hospitais se adaptam para salvar vidas em meio a danos generalizados | Notícias de Terremotos | Al Jazeera Pule linksPule para o Conteúdoassistir Ao Vivo Cadastre-seMostrar menu de navegaçãoMenu de navegaçãoNotíciasMostrar mais seções de notíciasÁfrica.
The rear of the hospital – a major public medical centre in Colombia’s Cali – had partially collapsed on Monday, after a magnitude 7. 4 earthquake struck the west of the country, killing at least 273 people and injuring at least 3,800 others.
The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said 377 people are still missing as the crucial three-day rescue window passes.
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Carlos Naranjo, a general practitioner at the hospital, said some 50 percent of the facility was damaged. “There is extensive structural damage; some walls are no longer stable, some ceilings have collapsed, and it is still dangerous to walk through,” he told Al Jazeera.
With most of the hospital off-limits, medical staff now have to turn away the vast majority of patients. They are able to treat only those who require immediate resuscitation.
The facility is one of four major hospitals that were damaged and forced out of operation on Monday. Six clinics were also damaged. Amid an influx of injured people, city authorities on Monday warned that public hospitals in Cali, home to two million people, were at 100 percent capacity and declared a “red alert for hospitals” there.
Cali, a terceira maior cidade da Colômbia e capital da província de Valle del Cauca, na região do Pacífico, é uma das áreas mais afetadas.
At least 96 died here, while 1,224 others were injured and 111 are officially missing. Authorities say some 45 buildings collapsed, while 832 suffered damage.
But on Wednesday – less than 72 hours into the crisis – a combination of effective organisation, plentiful volunteers, and support from the national government has led local health officials to describe the situation as stable.
The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday that the “hospital system has stabilised as patients have been discharged and the number of new admissions has decreased”.
But “a red alert remains declared for hospitals in the city”, it said.
A cidade evitou o desastre apesar do colapso de instituições de saúde-chave ao implementar uma estratégia para aumentar a capacidade das instituições menos afetadas pelo terremoto, disseram os funcionários.
German Escobar, Cali’s public health secretary, told Al Jazeera that the city had implemented a plan to create “expansion zones”, largely in and around existing health institutions, to handle the surge in patients.
These include utilising operating rooms that were previously not in use and recovery areas – where patients go after surgery – that were partially or fully closed before the earthquake.
In other hospitals – like the private Clinica Nuestra – the expansion zones come in the form of temporary field clinics.
The hospital was forced to relocate patients after a partial collapse.
Aqui, uma ambulância jaz esmagada por escombros caídos, com um letreiro de "Sala de Emergência" amassado pendurado frouxamente acima dela.
He noted that while there is still stress on the healthcare system, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses struggling to access medications, the threat of hospitals being overwhelmed and unable to attend to those in need has now been contained.
The health secretary credited the recovery of the city’s hospital system to successful coordination between government officials, relief organisations and volunteers.
Relief efforts also depended on vast resources and manpower from civil society organisations.
Enrique Zapata, head of logistics at Cali-based health NGO SARES, stood in front of a crowded medical tent at the foot of the Vanessa apartment – a six-storey building that collapsed on August 10.
The medical tent primarily serves volunteers, treating them as they carry out rescue operations.
Os resgatadores corriam apressados carregando baldes e pás, ele descreveu os primeiros momentos após o terremoto.
He explained that emergency responders followed a plan, named the Incident Command System, which guided their immediate response – a system set up in advance to prepare for disasters that coordinates how government agencies and civil society groups can work together in the event of disasters.
Beyond protocol, rescue workers were spurred to work through the night by a sense of duty.
Ricardo Castillo, an army veteran volunteering as a nurse at another collapse site in Cali, described a similar mobilisation.
Atrás dele, voluntários trabalhavam ao lado de bombeiros, policiais e pessoal militar entre o concreto e a barra de aço quebrados, removendo escombros em baldes passando-os de mão em mão ao longo de correntes de resgatistas.
Colombia and Venezuela’s earthquake responses compared.
The quake’s timing and location – just weeks after magnitude 7. 2 and 7. 5 earthquakes struck neighbouring Venezuela on June 24 – has prompted comparisons between the two countries’ responses.
The scale of the disaster in Venezuela was far greater than in Colombia, with more than 6,000 killed.
Venezuela’s government has faced sharp criticism over its response, with survivors saying help never arrived in the crucial first hours and days. Civilians led much of the relief effort, especially in the first two days, while delayed orders from senior military commanders and widespread confusion hampered the deployment of troops, according to media reports.
While Herrera noted a great deal of solidarity and support from the Venezuelan population, she blamed inadequate coordination within the country’s health system for the comparatively poor response to the tragedy.
As autoridades venezuelanas rejeitaram as críticas à sua resposta como produto de "laboratórios de mídia.
In Cali, rescuers say the crisis is far from over. With dozens still missing in the city and more than 500 officially recorded as missing nationwide, health workers say the emergency is unlikely to ease anytime soon.
Emergency workers are still calling for all the help they can get.
Fontes
Informação baseada em material público de Al Jazeera, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
