Cooperation Between the Disaster Medical Team and the Special Search and Rescue Medical Team - 2024 Earthquake in Taroko, Hualien, Taiwan

Summary: On April 3, 2024, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred off the coast of Hualien County, Taiwan. This earthquake was the largest earthquake in Taiwan after the September 21 earthquake in 1999. The Taroko National Park, located in the northern part of Hualien City, had serious rockfalls and collapses; many tourists and vehicles were trapped on the trails and tunnels waiting to be rescued. The non-governmental organization, the Taiwan Development Association for Disaster Medical Teams, the disaster preparedness and rescue group, signed a cooperation agreement with the Special Search and Rescue (SSAR) Team and immediately formed an advance team to carry out the rescue mission. The SSAR team of the National Fire Agency and from neighboring counties and cities were responsible for coordinating rescue missions at the disaster site. Three of these teams have doctors, nurses, and emergency paramedics. Formation of an SSAR medical team to accompany the disaster relief mission. It was anticipated that more people or injuries would be extricated from the Taroko National Park on the second day of the disaster, and initial assessment, medical assistance, and medical evacuation assistance. The disaster medical advance team was dispatched by the on-site command center to perform medical operations at the scene of Taroko National Park with the SSAR medical team, sharing human resources and medical supplies, and at the same time being responsible for the evacuation of patients from the medical station. 181 people were monitored by the medical station and treated by the doctors for the evacuation. This was the first time that the disaster medical team and the SSAR medical teams cooperated in the rescue of a large-scale earthquake disaster in Taiwan in the past 25 years.