We are on the home stretch for our Ninth World Congress and I hope that many of you will be in Jerusalem to share not only professional experience and old friendships, but also to witness the latest advances in disaster medicine, make new friends and enjoy exotic, historic and holy sites. The regular issues of our highly scientific journal, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine and the pages of this Newsletter are constant indications of the vigor and evergrowing activity of WADEM. From teaching (Saudi Arabia), advising (Russia), field work (Poland), disaster response (Japan), to conflict resolution (Bosnia) and many other stricken places, your Association has been present corporately, through its individual members, or via its specialized Affiliates. This is the kind of service that we can give, and we can render it better with your active participation.

You will notice from the address of this issue Insight that, beginning with 1995, the Association's Administrative Office has moved to Pittsburgh University. This is a welcome change, for it not only marks a return to our earlier roof, but also underlines the scientific and academic standing of WADEM; academic, without forgetting the applied or the humanitarian. We are thankful to Dr. Ernesto Pretto for looking after this aspect of the Association's affairs and membership. The resourceful among you have energetically recruited new members and Affiliated Societies. These not only bring new blood but also new opportunities and growth of WADEM throughout the world- now already present in some 60 countries. Growth in membership and in program are interlinked, and I ask you all to participate in this twin task.

I began with a note on our forthcoming congress and I should like to take this opportunity to thank the local organizing committee for the valuable scientific and pleasurable social program they have prepared. Those who are planning to extend their pleasure in the Mediterranean area, can join the WADEM/MBC Conference on burns and fire disasters under blue, sunny skies in Italy.

Rendezvous, then, in May, when I hope to see many old friends and make new ones.
S. William A. Gunn, MD, MS, FRCSC, President

As you can see from our new address on this Newsletter, WADEM has relocated our membership offices to Pittsburgh, PA. Recently, JEMS Communications, publisher of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, and our former membership office, became a division of Mosby Publishing Company. As part of that arrangement, JEMS notified WADEM that they would no longer be able to provide our membership office services. In reviewing the type and high level of services WADEM established to our members, and the cost of providing these services through JEMS, your officers sought equivalent services elsewhere, at a reduced cost.

The very best proposal came to us from the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh, recently renamed from the International Resuscitation Research Center, in honor of its founder, Professor Peter Safar. Many WADEM members will recall that Professor Safar was one of the original founders of the Club of Mainz in 1976, and was the second WADEM president.

Following a written survey of the Board of Directors, your officers took the action of relocating our offices to the Safar Center. This transition could not have been possible without the support of Professor Safar, and the leadership of Professor Ernesto Pretto, a long time WADEM member and associate director of the Safar Center. Our new secretary is Amy Miller and our phone number is 412/383-1904. The FAX number is 412/624-0943 and the e-mail address is WADEM@smtp.anes .upmc.edu.

The World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine holds a biennial Congress every odd year, this year's being the 9th. Plans are afoot to hold major Symposia and Regional meetings in the intervening even years. The schedule for future Congresses is as follows:

1995: Jerusalem, Israel. This Congress is in just a few week's time. Don't miss this year's Congress!

1997: Mainz, Germany. The l0th Congress will also mark the 20th Anniversary of WADEM (born Club of Mainz). It will be appropriately celebrated at its birthplace in September. Professor Wolfgang Dick will be the organizer.

1999: Osaka, Japan. Our Asia-Pacific friends will receive WADEM for the 11th Congress. Professor Muneo Ohta and his team are already planning a meeting of high technology and spectacular fireworks to close the century.

2001: Yes, we do plan for the next Century! Some candidates are already on line, but there is time for selections. If you wish to host the 12th World Congress, please contact one of the WADEM officers or write the Pittsburgh office.

WADEM's General Assembly will hold a general membership meeting in conjunction with the 9th World Congress on Emergency and Disaster Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel. The planned location and time of the meeting is 1:00 PM on Thursday, 1 June, 1995 at the Jerusalem Renaissance Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel. Agenda items will include election of new board members and the report by the Board of Directors. New board members proposed for election for a two year term include Jean Marie Fonrouge, Lyon (France), Dr. Zelnicek, Brno (Czechoslovakia), and Judith Fisher, Hertfordshire (United Kingdom). All WADEM members are invited to attend.

The first WADEM workshop on disaster research methods was held in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Disaster Medicine Conference at the University of New Mexico in October, 1994. Professors Marvin Birnbaum (WADEM Journal Editor) and Steven Rottman (WADEM President-elect and Treasurer), conducted this innovative session, designed to stress differences between qualitative and quantitative research, highlighting examples from the disaster literature on specific strategies to make the study of mass population disasters more meaningful.

Dr. Birnbaum and Dr. Rottman also addressed the conference, "Preparing for Managing and Monitoring Mid and Long Term Effects of Large Scale Disasters," convened in November, 1994, at the University of Minnesota. This conference brought together disaster workers from the fields of public health, sociology, and the behavioral sciences. WADEM welcomed the opportunity to reach out to our non-physician colleagues who play such a crucial role in the long term care of displaced victims of disasters.

MAPS In St. Petersburg very interesting and encouraging talks have taken place with the Rector of the Postgraduates Medical Academy (MAPS) for a joint training program on major emergencies. There is considerable interest and experience at MAPS which we shall share for the benefit of international advancement...

Joint Conference The Minister of Civil Defense. Emergencies and Natural Disasters met representatives of WADEM in Moscow and discussed plans for a major joint conference on industrial nuclear accidents and their health and environmental effects. Details are now being worked out and will be announced in good time, for Chernobyl and other potential nuclear hazards greatly interest many WADEM Members and other disaster managers everywhere. The Medical Adviser to this Ministry is also attending our World Congress where he will be taking part in discussions...

Dollars and Rubles At meetings in Russia and other countries of soft currency, numerous physicians who wish to attend or become members of WADEM cannot do so as the Ruble is not convertible. We have now made special arrangements whereby applicants from that Federation or from the Commonwealth of independent States can pay nationally in local currency to our representative in Moscow. Interested persons please write to our Administrative Office...

The indefatigable Chairman of our Association's Institute for Pediatric Disasters, Prof. Leonid Roshal, who is also the founder of the institute, has been actively involved not only in pediatric emergency research but also in actual field missions. He was in Kobe at the recent devastating earthquake, has led medical teams in the Bosnia war disaster and, as we go to press, he is on his way to the Chechnya conflict. At our last Congress, his video film on children in disaster raised much consciousness, and no doubt, he will have a great deal to report on at our forthcoming Congress in Jerusalem.

In November 1994 a devastating fire engulfed a discotheque in Gdansk, Poland, affecting some 700 people, mostly young, of whom over 300 sustained various degrees of serious burns, some involving over 65% total body surface area. The World Health Organization (WHO) asked for WADEM's assessment and assistance, and this was immediately provided through our Affiliated Society, the Mediterranean Burns Club. Professors Costagliola, Gunn and Masellis proceeded to the country where they discussed the disaster with the Deputy Minister of Health, the WHO and the chief burn surgeon, and visited the victims for assessment and further action. This, and continuing services, are being provided by WADEM entirely free of charge, as an international humanitarian service.
Thats the spirit.

In central Europe the Czech Republic- with its historic achievements, scientific institutions and as a country in its entirety -is rapidly advancing after years of difficulty. The health services also are in constant progressive movement, and the Ministry of Health, the Defense Forces, Civil Protection, and individual surgeons and practitioners are energetically pursuing plans and models of improvement and development. WADEM's President spent several visits to these institutions in Prague, in Brno, at the Purkinje institute at Hradec Kralove and elsewhere, where programs of cooperation and exciting experiences of collaboration are being discussed. The general press, medical journals and civil protection publications gave wide echo to these negotiations, and WADEM remains ready to strengthen the disaster medicine and emergency capability of European countries.

Educational technology is evolving rapidly and although there will always be need for the printed word, more sophisticated yet easy to follow computerized teaching packages are covering all technical fields through CD-ROM interactive multimedia hypertext. The first - such hypertext dealing with the entire field of burns and thermal injuries has just been released jointly by the MBC and informed. Taking all the conceivable aspects of this complex problem form A to Z, the package provides a unique and excellent didactic medium that can be used for teaching, training, refreshing, simulating or self-testing at all levels, and for all medical and non-medical personnel concerned with prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of burn injuries. Adding to the critical acclaim of all users, WADEM congratulates its friends in the MBC on this achievement, and is proud that all the seven specialists involved in its production are members of the Association.

The constant efforts in the Scandinavian region for preparedness against major emergencies is well known, and this year's Nordic Congress of Disaster Medicine will be held in Stavanger, Norway, 6-9 September. Both Chairmen Dr. Sundnes and Dr. Mattila are WADEM board members, and William Gunn and Jacov Adler have been invited to moderate a special session on Evaluation of Disaster Relief Operations. Our Association is always pleased to participate in and promote regional efforts, and PDM publishes the important Kamedo reports from these countries.

May 1994 was a triple commemorative date when a large international gathering of Dr. Peter Safar's alumni celebrated his 70th birthday, he terminated 40 years of unequaled service and when, on taking over the IRRC founded by him, the new Director renamed the Institute at the University of Pittsburgh the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research. WADEM once again joins in congratulating one of its founding fathers and past Presidents. (See also Vol. 2, No. 1 of Insight.)

The First International Symposium on the Role of the Medical Community in Accidents and Disasters was held at King Faisal University, Dammam, with the full professional input of WADEM. A full faculty from our Association collaborated in the programming and delivery of the Symposium, which was opened by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz. Following the success of this first endeavor, the President and Dean of the College of Medicine have asked WADEM to formulate plans for a more permanent program of education in emergencies and disasters.

WADEM extends congratulations and best wishes to the Baltic Association of Burns and Fire Disasters (BABFD), which was founded in January to promote prevention and better management of burns and thermal catastrophes. Congratulations also to our friend and fellow-member. Professor Oksana Dmitrienko of St. Petersburg, Russia, who was the guiding force behind this and has been elected the Association's founding President. We look forward to constructive cooperation.

The 1995 international Conference on Disaster and Emergency Medicine (ICODEM) is being held in Shanghai, 18-20 April, under the high patronage of the Minister of Health and the Co-Chairmanship of WADEM's President. This important meeting, in a metropolis of over 13 million people and a mega-country of extreme proportions in every sense, should provide unique experiences in all aspects of emergency and disaster management. WADEM is proud to be a co-planner and principal sponsor of this gathering directed by Dr. Zhong Houde, a member of our Association. We plan to strengthen our collaboration with Chinese colleagues, and their more important papers will be published in PDM.

The President of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, William Gunn, was invited to deliver the keynote address at the international Symposium on Disaster Medicine of the Medical institute of the Armed Forces in Milano, Italy. Before a predominantly military audience he spoke of the role of Military Physicians in Non-Military Disasters. We understand he has been invited to return...

Many distinguished specialists in EMS and Disaster Medicine are members of WADEM and have contributed significantly to the basic and growing literature of these two interrelated disciplines. Besides numerous articles and other publications, and the solidly established Prehospital and Disaster Medicine journal of our Association, several books have been written by our colleagues, a recent sampling of which is given below. We would appreciate being informed by our members of any books they have published. Please forward your information to the membership office for publication.

Johrp Schou, MD, Danish anesthetist, working in Germany and professing an open, international outlook, besides writing books, he has found it worthwhile to join WADEM. Prehospital and Emergency Medicine has already received wide acclaim, and he now comes with a thought-provoking volume entitled A Phylosophical Approach to Anaesthesia, a very professional, provocative and profound look at the anesthesiologist's motivation for thinking or doing the things he does. A readable and enriching book from Alix Publishing, Chrisonastrasse 33, Lorrach 79540, Germany.

Jean Marie Fonrouge, MD, emergency SAMU physician from Lyon, France and enthusiastic member of WADEM, has produced an excellent video-cassette (in French) entitled Anesthetic Techniques Prehospital Conditions. With accurate cine-imagery in color, well-chosen words, accurate medication guidelines and precise techniques, the film provides in 16 minutes a most useful training tool for EMS and EMT personnel concerning four specific emergencies: head injury, entrapment trauma, drug poisoning and acute asthmatic attack. Produced by Fonrouge et al, Video Enseignement Medical, 1994, Lyon, France.

William Gunn's long-established Multilingual Dictionary of Disaster Medicine and International Relief has already been reviewed in these columns. Since a paperback issue and a translation in Japanese, a German version is now in preparation by Dr. Bernd Domres in the Kossenday series of sturdy emergency workbooks.

The Management of Burns and fire Disasters is now in press in its second volume and will be available at the Third International Congress on Burns and Fire Disasters in June, immediately following the Jerusalem World Congress. Authors, M. Masellis and S.W.A. Gunn, publishers, Kluwer Academic, Lancaster England and Dordrecht, Holland.

The Special Supplement of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine on Sarajevo was edited by Ernesto Pretto, MD, and Mirsada Begovic, MD and has elicited considerable interest worldwide, especially on this sad aspect of war disasters. JEMS Publications, 1947 Camino Vida Roble, Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA.

WADEM affiliate Mediterranean Burns Club has just released the first ever Hypertext on Burns on CD-ROM, This unique educational tool is further mentioned in this issue. All the seven specialists who prepared the text, the iconography and the computerized disc are members of WADEM. Available from inforMed, Via Roma 471, 90139 Palermo, Italy.

After Tokyo and after Osaka, the Third International Asia-Pacific Conference on Emergency and Disaster Medicine will be held in Indonesia, on the romantic and exquisite island of Bali, in October 1996. WADEM has always been closely associated with the organization of these important and highly scientific conferences, and our fellow member, Dr. Abdul Radjak, is the Secretary-General of the forthcoming event. Inter alia, earthquake and volcanic disasters will be studied at close quarters. Write to Pacto Convex, Hotel Borobodur International, Jalan Lapangan Selatan, Jakarta 10710, Indonesia.

We are very pleased to announce that with this issue of lnsight WADEM is inaugurating a sister publication entitled "Global Disaster Reports". The primary objective of this new publication will be to keep our members informed on a regular basis about major natural disaster events and complex emergencies occurring around the world. The Global Disaster Reports (GDR) editorial staff will provide brief summaries of important health and medical intelligence that appear in "situation reports" produced by the major international disaster relief organizations such as the UN's Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), the US's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The most important facts from these reports will be analyzed, verified by cross-checking with other reports coming from the same event and presented in a concise, easy to read summary detailing the most important issues for our readership. The GDR will include an analysis and discussion by respected experts of the major issues that challenge the disaster response community in planning for efficient health, medical and humanitarian relief efforts in a variety of disaster settings. We hope that it will also serve as a forum for the presentation of different viewpoints from our membership and others and as a vehicle for the exchange of information on topics related to Disaster Medicine. We are looking forward to your feedback as the first issues arrive at your doorstep.