The destruction that started in Wayanad has not stopped yet. Since the landslide that occurred late on Monday, rescue teams have rescued thousands of people and sent them to relief camps. Rescue teams are doing their work amid warnings of rain. But saving the people buried under the debris is not easy. Many times, deaths continued to be observed even after coming out of the debris in good condition, which could happen after a few hours to several days.
Why does death occur even after survival?
There can be many reasons for post rescue death. The first of these is that the rescue team may not have properly understood the victim’s injuries after removing them from the debris, or the hospitals may have missed it due to excessive pressure. But science has other reasons for this.
One of these is hypothermia
The temperature below the debris formed due to collapse of buildings due to landslides or earthquakes reduces. This temperature remains much lower than above the ground. Especially if the accident happened in cold places or amidst rain. It shrinks the blood vessels of people buried under the debris. This is a process through which blood cells decide that as little heat as possible should escape from the body through the skin. Due to this, the upper body temperature decreases, while the internal temperature remains increased so that the vitals continue to function.
Sudden expansion or contraction of blood vessels is dangerous.
During rescue, a lot of effort has to be done in trying to bring the victim up from below. The victim’s body keeps moving continuously. Due to this the blood vessels suddenly expand. Sudden change in temperature can lead to cardiac arrhythmia, i.e. irregular heartbeat. This is fatal.
Crush syndrome is a common cause
If a part of the body is buried under the debris, the tissues in that part get damaged. During this time myoglobin is released from the body. It is a kind of protein which takes the responsibility of delivering oxygen to the damaged parts of the body. So far it is fine, but as soon as the person is taken out from the debris, this protein limited to one part of the body will spread throughout the body. This can cause kidney failure. This is also called crush syndrome.
heart stops working
The amount of potassium can increase so much that ventricular fibrillation occurs. Due to this the heart is not able to deliver blood to every part of the body. This condition can be especially dangerous for people who are already suffering from heart diseases.
Even less stress can become fatal
This was seen a lot during the rescue of people drowning in the sea. As soon as people see the rescue team near them, they start believing that they will come out safely. Due to this, their stress hormone levels drop rapidly. Stress hormones help save lives during disasters because they send signals to the brain and tell all the organs to function properly. But a sudden drop in stress hormone levels can cause the circulatory system to collapse.
Mental stress can also cause death
Many times, sudden mental stress after rescue can also kill, such as when the survivor realizes that his family has been destroyed or is missing. Or all his property has been destroyed. In such a situation, even a minor injury can become serious. It was also observed that after disasters like earthquake or tsunami, there is an increase in the number of severe depression patients in that area who have suicidal tendencies.
However, one can survive inside the debris for many days. It depends on whether the person is suppressed in some situation inside. If air and water are reaching it, a healthy adult can survive for a week. This is the reason why the United Nations talks about running intensive rescue operations for 5 to 7 days in any natural disaster.