Hurricane sandy as a kidney failure disaster

摘要

A kidney failure disaster can be defined as an event that places large numbers of patients treated with maintenance dialysis or individuals with a recent onset of acute kidney injury (AKI) at risk due to lack of access to dialysis care (Fig 1). Recent reports have addressed aspects of kidney failure disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008,5the L'Aquila earthquake in Italy in 2009, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the Queensland (Australia) floods and cyclone of 2011, and the Fukushima earthquake and Daichii power plant accident of 2011 in Japan. The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season was unusually active, producing 19 named storms between June 1 and November 30. Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the second costliest after Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a typical tropical cyclone with winds that circulated in a counterclockwise direction around a low-pressure center. By contrast, Sandy was a late-season extratro-pical cyclone that developed when both warm and cool air masses were present and was dispersed rather than compact (Fig 2). Although such storms typically lose force as they expand, some, like Sandy, retain hurricane force winds (>=74 mph). Sandy became a category 1 hurricane on October 24, 2012 while it was still over the Caribbean and then turned north, traveling along the Eastern United States seaboard. As it approached the coast, an unusual event occurred: Sandy interacted with a winter storm to the north, producing a "super storm." Hurricane force winds extended 175 miles, and tropical force winds (>=39 mph) extended 485 miles. Worse, a full moon increased tides.