One disaster two traumas: Being under rubble and burn injuries in the 2023 Maraş, Turkey earthquakes

Introduction: On February 6, 2023, two separate destructive earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.5 occurred in Kahramanmara & scedil;, T & uuml;rkiye. More than 50,000 people lost their lives, and over 100,000 were reported injured. In this study, patients referred to hospitals with burn diagnosis and management of burn wounds following the disaster were evaluated. Material and methods: Information on burn injury admissions related to the earthquake was collected from all burn facilities in the country within 15 days after the earthquake. The patients' demographics, being under rubble, rescue times, burn causes, grafting procedures, and deaths were recorded. Results: Following the earthquake, burn victims were transferred to the 13 Burn Treatment Centers located in 10 provinces. A total of 191 patients were burned. Among the burn patients, 101 (52.9%) were rescued from the rubble 2-60 h after the earthquake. Eight patients who were hospitalized at the burn centers died. Scalding and flame burns were the most zation, and mortality was higher among the patients trapped under rubble (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). Victims who stayed longer time under the rubble required significantly more grafting procedures (p < 0.001). Conclusion: In a literature review, it was observed that there are a limited number of publications reporting earthquake-related burns. In the February, 6 T & uuml;rkiye earthquake, flame burns were seen due to small fires that occurred in collapsed buildings during the earthquake. And also contact burns and hot liquid burns were seen in earthquake victims trapped under rubble. Bursting hot water pipes, overturned stoves, contact with hot central heating radiators, and heated construction irons caused scalding and contact burns. It is believed that prolonged entrapment may cause delays in burn treatment or lead to deeper burns due to prolonged contact with the burning agent, increasing hospitalization rates. This earthquake once again drew attention to burn injuries that could occur during and after earthquakes, including those that may occur under rubble. (c) 2024 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.