Designation of a new training model of a local disaster medical system with tabletop exercises.

Taiwan is prone to both natural and man-made disasters with a board spectrum of magnitudes. Geographically, the island is located in the West Pacific, where typhoons, floods, landslides, and earthquakes are a constant threat. Casualties associated with recent disasters have increased significantly owing to population growth, inappropriate urbanization, and poor management of slope-land. Over the past 10 years, 2,936 fatalities have occurred and 12,708 victims have been injured in Taiwan during disasters. Recently, the most devastating catastrophe was the Chi-Chi earthquake on 21 September 1999, which shook central Taiwan with a magnitude of 7.3 on the open-ended Richter scale. This earthDesignation of a New Training Model of a Local Disaster Medical System with Tabletop Exercises