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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.095240v1 97/Supplement_1/S146    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Doocy, S. Articles by Robinson, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Doocy, S. Articles by Robinson, C.

Shannon Doocy, PhD, Yuri Gorokhovich, PhD, Gilbert Burnham, MD, PhD, Deborah Balk, PhD and Courtland Robinson, PhD

At the time of the study, Shannon Doocy, Gilbert Burnham, and Courtland Robinson were at the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Md. Yuri Gorokhovich and Deborah Balk were at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, New York, NY.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Shannon Doocy, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Suite E8132, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 (e-mail: sdoocy{at}jhsph.edu).

Objectives. We aimed to quantify tsunami mortality and compare approaches to mortality assessment in the emergency context in Aceh, Indonesia, where the impact of the 2004 tsunami was greatest.

Methods. Mortality was estimated using geographic information systems–based vulnerability models and demographic methods from surveys of tsunami-displaced populations.

Results. Tsunami mortality in Aceh as estimated by demographic models was 131066 and was similar to official figures of 128063; however, it was a conservative estimate of actual mortality and is substantially less than official estimates of 168561 presumed dead, which included those classified as missing. Tsunami impact was greatest in the district of Aceh Jaya, where an estimated 27.0% (n=23862) of the population perished; Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh were also severely affected, with mortality at 21.0% (n = 61 650) and 11.5% (n = 25 903), respectively. Mortality was estimated at 23.7% for the population at risk and 5.6% overall.

Conclusions. Mortality estimates were derived using methodologies that can be applied in future disasters when predisaster demographic data are not available. Models could be useful in the early stages of disaster response by facilitating geographic targeting and management of humanitarian assistance.

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