Abstract

Two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, which occurred in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023, have caused distress to residents of Turkey and Syria. With the authorization of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defense, two large armored ships have been positioned in the region as floating field hospitals. In our study, we aim to provide disaster management resources by retrospectively examining the examination records of patients admitted to these floating hospitals due to earthquakes and by researching the organization of hospitals and emergency departments.

In this study, data on patients received by 2 floating hospitals in the Gulf of İskenderun within the first 10 days after they started to work during the acute period of the February 6, 2023 earthquake were evaluated. In this respect, the study is a retrospective study.

According to data obtained from floating hospitals, an average of 400-500 patient applications per day. It has been determined that patients frequently apply as outpatients with green triage, and the most common complaints are upper respiratory tract infections and extremity trauma.

After these earthquakes, people who suffered from them preferred safer field hospitals and floating hospitals. It is estimated that from the 400-500 patient applications per day, the hospital’s laboratory tests arrived 2 weeks later and there were no computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Based on this, keeping floating hospitals ready, training personnel who can participate, and keeping them ready in terms of material deficiencies are very valuable in this type of disaster situation.

Keywords: Emergency department, disasters, earthquake, floating hospital