Natural disasters are catastrophic events with atmospheric, geologic, and hydrologic origins. Disasters include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, floods, and drought. Natural disasters can have rapid or slow onset, with serious health, social, and economic consequences. During the past 2 decades, natural disasters have killed millions of people, adversely affected the lives of at least 1 billion more people, and resulted in substantial economic damages (1). Developing countries are disproportionately affected because they may lack resources, infrastructure, and disaster-preparedness systems.
自然灾害是指大气、地质或水文等因素造成的灾难，包括地震、火山爆发、泥石流、海啸、洪水和干旱等。自然灾害可能会突然爆发，也可能慢慢形成，并对健康、社会和经济造成重大影响。在过去二十年中，自然灾害在全球范围已经造成数百万人死亡，至少数十亿人的生活受到影响，对经济造成巨大的损失(1)。资金不足、基础设施薄弱、缺少灾前应急方案的发展中国家在灾难中往往会受到更大创伤。
Deaths associated with natural disasters, particularly rapid-onset disasters, are overwhelmingly due to blunt trauma, crush-related injuries, or drowning. Deaths from communicable diseases after natural disasters are less common.
与自然灾害相关、尤其是突发性灾害引起的死亡，大多来自于砸伤、压伤，或者溺水。与之相比，灾后传染性疾病引起的死亡较少。
Dead Bodies and Disease
The sudden presence of large numbers of dead bodies in the disaster-affected area may heighten concerns of disease outbreaks (2), despite the absence of evidence that dead bodies pose a risk for epidemics after natural disasters (3). When death is directly due to the natural disaster, human remains do not pose a risk for outbreaks (4). Dead bodies only pose health risks in a few situations that require specific precautions, such as deaths from cholera (5) or hemorrhagic fevers (6). Recommendations for management of dead bodies are summarized in the Table.
尸体和疾病
灾难导致的大量死亡往往会加重人们对于疾病暴发的忧虑（2），然而事实上，目前并没有证据说明大量尸体会导致灾后传染病爆发（3）。当死亡由自然灾害直接造成时，对幸存者来说并不存在引起传染病爆发的风险（4）。对于某些需要特别预防的情况，如霍乱（5）或出血热 - 存在尸体引起传染病爆发的风险。
Despite these facts, the risk for outbreaks after disasters is frequently exaggerated by both health officials and the media. Imminent threats of epidemics remain a recurring theme of media reports from areas recently affected by disasters, despite attempts to dispel these myths (2,3,7).
尸体的处理原则请参阅附录的表格一。
不管事实如何，灾后疫情爆发的可能性经常被卫生部门和媒体夸大。尽管科学家试图澄清这些缺乏根据的误区，但‘即将来临的疫情威胁’总是媒体灾区报道中反复出现的主题。
