Perinatal Care Preparedness in Kochi Prefecture for When a Nankai Trough Earthquake Occurs: Action Plans and Disaster Liaisons for Pediatrics and Perinatal Medicine

A Nankai Trough earthquake is highly likely to occur in near future, and perinatal medical resources and care in Kochi Prefecture may be insufficient after such an event. Therefore, we evaluated the medical and public health measures needed to prepare for caring for pregnant women in Kochi Prefecture in the aftermath of such an earthquake and the potential action plans for the prefecture. We estimated that immediately after an earthquake, approximately 30 pregnant women will require urgent medical treatment, most of whom will be in the prefectural capital, Kochi City, and perinatal medical care in Kochi City may be insufficient. Therefore, we used the projected flooding areas to divide Kochi City and its surrounding areas into 3 areas and allocated at least one Disaster Liaison for Pediatrics and Perinatal Medicine (DLPPM) to each disaster base hospital in those 3 areas. In a disaster, the DLPPMs will serve as key individuals in their respective areas and coordinate the allocation of medical care. A DLPPM will be allocated also within the Disaster Medical Response Headquarters of Kochi Prefecture and be responsible for overseeing perinatal care in the whole of Kochi Prefecture. Our study shows that estimating the number of affected pregnant women and requirement for perinatal medical care is an effective way to prepare realistic disaster measures and to enable a specific plan to be formulated for effective allocation and management of DLPPMs. We believe that our system can serve as a model in perinatal disaster medicine.