Management of Explosions and Blast Injuries after Gërdec Tragedy, Albania.

Abstract

Background: In the last decade, the risk of terrorist attacks has increased almost worldwide. In this setting, disaster response personnel must understand the unique physiopathology of injuries associated with explosions and must be prepared to assess and treat the people injured in such tragedies. The ammunition explosion in Gërdec, Vora, just 13 miles from the capital of Albania, Tirana, confronted our country with a real human tragedy with severe casualties. The striking force of the two consecutive explosions resulted in two straight earthquakes with respective amplitudes of 9.2 and 2.5 on the Richter scale.

Objective: To explain the classification of explosives and, in connection with it, to identify the major types of explosive and blast injuries, and the management options in the cases of explosions and blast injuries.

Material & Methods: Efforts to dismantle Albania’s stockpiles of obsolete munitions took a catastrophic turn on March 15th, when a series of explosions occurred as crews were clearing out a storage depot in Gërdec, on March 15th, 2008, at 12:15 AM hours. Gërdec is located 10 km northwest of the capital of Albania, Tirana, near the national highway Tirana-Durres and at a distance of 3-4 km by air from the National Airport. Data presented here were collected from the patients’ files in our Trauma UHC and from the official reports from the different governmental offices.

Conclusion: The explosive and blast injuries now present an actual modern epidemic disease that threatens the very survival of the free world. A thorough understanding of detonation and blast dynamics by the treating teams is required to correlate better the injury patterns presented. This is also critical for the revision of current multiple casualty protocols. It is up to the medical establishment to prepare suitable protocols, coordinate the workforce, and secure medical resources to handle such events successfully.