Introduction




Disaster as defined by World Health Organization is a sudden ecologic phenomenon with sufficient magnitude to require external assistance. In term of emergency care, it occurs when the number of patients presenting in a given space of time are such that the department unable to offer even minimal care for them without the presence of external assistance.


Even a motorvehicular accident involving six critically ill patient may cause a disaster to a district hospital but a number of more than 20 casualties will bring difficult time even to the best staffed trauma center.


Lahad Datu  itself has experienced  it's worst condition during the "2013 Lahad Datu Stand Off" in which the staff are not well trained for mass casualties and disaster. Un equipped with proper instrument and inadequate well trained personnel definetely give us a hard time hence require mobilization of personnel from whole Sabah as well as from Semenanjung. We definetely learn something valuable there.


But again, it is not sole disaster that may occur. The geographical of Sabah  itself possess significant threat. The slippery and poor condition of the road may predispose to massive motor vehicular accident as may happen before. But again, we need to consider a disaster caused by the natural disaster as well.


Technically, Sabah  is quite safe from event like Tsunami as it is bounded by Philiphines' group of Islands. However, in the future, it is hard for us to predict that disaster will not occur. As for example, on 4th May 2011, a  small scale earthquake with 3.3 magnitude has been detected near the Lahad Datu  with the epicentre located 70km southwest of the town. There is a fear that we might experience a higher magnitude earthquake and this has been proved to be true. On 5 June 2015, an earthquake oh 6.0 magnitude has affected West Coast Sabah particularly Ranau and surrounded area. 18 people has died in this unfortunate event.

Upon realising about lack of preparedness in facing disaster especially during the Lahad Datu Stand Out, the very first structured disaster training For East Coast Sabah’s Healthcare Provider has been conducted on 20th to 21st August 2014 by Kelab Rekreasi & Kebajikan Jabatan Kecemasan dan Trauma, Hospital Lahad Datu (Kelab Rakan) and Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Sabah. This event taking place in Taliwas Forestry Recreational Area Lahad Datu, Menara Kayangan Lahad Datu and Pantai Lamag Lahad Datu.  

This inaugural event would not be successful without  great partnership from Jabatan Kecemasan dan Trauma Hospital Tawau, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM), SAPURA, Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Lahad Datu, Pasukan Gerakan Am Batallion 17 Lahad Datu, Jabatan Pertahanan Awam Malaysia and Sabah Forestry Department. A total of 74 interagency personnel involves in making the course successful.

This event receives participation of six team from hospitals of east coast Sabah and one observer team from Hospital Queen Elizabeth. Each team consist of four team members compose of 1 Medical Officer, 1 Medical Assistant, 1 Staff Nurse and 1 Driver. Total number of 28 healthcare provider has been trained during the event Some of the participants has been selected to represent state of Sabah in International Major Incident Response Exercise Competition (iMIREX) 2014 The feedback received from the program is available in Reports On D.A.R.E Medic 2014. Among the feedback that we receive includes; poor knowledge among participants regarding disaster, no proper standardise module, not enough experienced facilitators and trainers, poor time management, and lack of safety measures during the exercise.


For the past 25 years, natural disaster have claimed approximately 3.5 millions live worldwide and affecting the lives of at least 1 billion people with property damages exceeding 50 billions.


Surrounded by deep rain forest and tourist center like Tabin Wildlife, Danum Valley, Waterfall and the coastal region with diving sports, this tourism industry is blooming. In a future, we are expecting that more tourist will come and this will also invite a possible unfortunate events.


Therefore, we need to train our personnel to be prepared and having a standard operation procedure if any of this misfortune happen.


The training shall include range of activities in disaster and rescue. And this program is invented so that we may train our staff to be well prepared in term of pre hospital skills for effective disaster management encompasses of navigation skills, first aid management in field, and extrication of victim from the disaster side.

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