Abstract
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 (7 on the Japanese shindo scale) hit the Chuetsu area of Niigata prefecture at 17: 56 pm on October 23, 2004, and also frequent aftershocks troubled people for month. The author surveyed the degree of damage for rheumatoid patients under such conditions. No rheumatoid patients were crushed under collapsed houses or killed in landslides, but 2 patients broke their legs and were operated on in our hospital. People in shelters complained they couldn’t sleep because of the cold. Therefore, many of them stayed in their vehicles. This caused the onset of a disease called “economy class syndrome”. In shelters, there were not western-style enough toilets or camp beds for all of the disabled people present. The prescriptions of the patients who lost their drugs or couldn’t go to hospital because of landslides or other problems were faxed to a pharmacy in their area of residence. To prepare for emergencies, doctors should prescribe extra drugs for a few days. It’s hard for doctors to get information about patients’ safety so the author has been suggesting “If you have any trouble, please contact us as a support hospital for rheumatoid patients.”
