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The International Search and Rescue Response to the US Embassy Bombing in Kenya: The Medical Team Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Anthony G. Macintyre ,
Scott Weir  and
Joseph A. Barbera
Anthony G. Macintyre*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington DC 20037, USA
Scott Weir
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington DC 20037, USA
Joseph A. Barbera
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington DC 20037, USA
*
Department of Emergency Medicine The George Washington University Medical Center 2140 Pennsylvania, Ave, NW Washington, DC 20037 USA E-mail: emdagm@gwumc.edu
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Extract

On 07 August, 1998, a terrorist's bomb exploded outside of the United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. The explosion caused severe damage to the Embassy and surrounding structures, including almost complete collapse of the Ufundi building adjacent to the Embassy. The U.S. response to this tragedy included the deployment of medical, rescue, and law enforcement personnel to assist the Kenyan government. An integral component of this response was the deployment of an Urban Search and Rescue Task Force to aid in the location, extrication, and rescue of entrapped victims. This Task Force was sponsored by the Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), a branch of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Task Force included a medical team composed of two physicians and four paramedics, whose purpose was to define, create, and provide a medical care system for rescuers and victims in the austere environment at the bombsite. As an international event involving a multinational response, the characteristics and requirements of this event differed in some respects from domestic disaster emergency responses, and the medical team adjusted their operating procedures accordingly.

Keywords

bombingcollapsed structuredisasterinternational responseNairobi search and rescue
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 1999 , pp. 11 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1999

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