Rapid Assessment of the Health Status and Needs after the Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake in Changning County, Sichuan Province

Objectives  To assess public health status and requirement of residents' health resources after magnitude 6.0 (on the Richter scale) earthquake in Changning County, Sichuan Province.

Methods  All of the 11 temporary resettlements in Changning County and Gong County were quickly investigated and evaluated by the questionnaire survey and on-site interview on June 20, 2019.

Results  10 of the 11 temporary resettlements were centralized resettlement. Bottled mineral water is the main drinking water in 10 resettlement sites. 7 resettlements used piped water and the remaining 4 used emergency water supply for domestic usage. The food was mainly convenient food provided by civil affairs departments, and 10 of all the resettlements were provided with uniformly processed food and dishes. The overall environmental sanitation was in good condition, but in the early stage after the earthquake, there were defecation everywhere and fecal exposure near individual resettlement sites. Medical services and public health services were provided in all the resettlements.

Conclusions  The overall public health status of the earthquake-stricken areas was in good condition, but there were hidden dangers in drinking water of some temporary resettlements, and the environmental sanitation needed to be improved. It was necessary to strengthen drinking water sanitation, environmental sanitation and health education. And the diseases after disasters, such as intestinal infectious diseases and respiratory infectious diseases, should be focused on.