The Standardized Mortality Ratio due to Man Made Disaster in Ethiopia

Authors

Kaleab Tesfaye Tegegne1*, Abiyu Ayalew Assefa1, Medhin Geta1, Andualem Zenebe1, Wosenyeleh Semeon Bagajjo2, Musie Rike3, Belayneh Feleke Weldeyes4
1Department of public health, hawassa college of health science, hawassa, ethiopia 
2Dean of hawassa college of health science, hawassa, ethiopia 
3Research and publication directorate, hawassa college of health science, hawassa, ethiopia    
4Department of mid wifery, hawassa college of health science, hawassa, ethiopia  

Article Information

*Corresponding author: Kaleab Tesfaye Tegegne, Department of public health, hawassa college of health science, hawassa, ethiopia.

Received: November 09, 2021
Accepted: November 16, 2021
Published: November 20, 2021


Citation: Kaleab Te Tegegne, Abiyu A Assefa, Geta M, Zenebe A, Wosenyeleh S Bagajjo. “The Standardized Mortality Ratio due to Man Made Disaster in Ethiopia”. International Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health Research, 1(4); DOI: http;//doi.org/03.2021/1.1019.
Copyright: © 2021 Kaleab Tesfaye Tegegne. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Man-made disasters have an element of human intent involving a failure of a man-made system, as opposed to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards.  Man-made disasters include crime, arson, civil disorder, terrorism, war, biological/chemical threat, cyber-attacks, etc.


Keywords: crime; arson; civil disorder; terrorism, war; biological/chemical threat; cyber-attacks

Introduction

Man-Made Disaster

Man-made disasters have an element of human intent involving a failure of a man-made system, as opposed to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards.  Man-made disasters include crime, arson, civil disorder, terrorism, war, biological/chemical threat, cyber-attacks, etc. From the above listed manmade disasters, Terrorism is the recent and a major cause of human loses in Ethiopia. The Tigray People Liberation Front Terrorists group is a cause for a significant number of deaths of civilians in many areas of Ethiopia  among these Mai kadara, Galicoma , Chena , Kobo,Wuchale,, Meresa ,Gayenete ,Deberezebete and  Kombolcha are the  major places where many death of civilians  occurred by  Tigray People Liberation Front Terrorists group

Terrorism

Terrorism is the use of force or violence against persons or property in violation of the criminal laws of the United States for purposes of intimidation, coercion, or ransom.

Terrorists often use threats to create fear among the public to try to convince citizens that their government is powerless to prevent terrorism and to get immediate publicity for their causes (1).

In Ethiopia, from October 2020 up to now (November 2021 Man Made Disaster occurred particularly by Tigray People Liberation Front Terrorists group in many parts of the country especially in Amhara and Afar Regions of Ethiopia 

They cause a large number of death, displacement, violence, material and resource damage in Amhara and Afar Regions of Ethiopia 

In this short communication, we are interested to disseminate the extent of death due to Tigray People Liberation Front Terrorists group in two places, Mai kadara, Amhara region and Galicoma, Afar region by calculating Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR) and this will help the international community to understand the situation in our country Ethiopia

The Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR) is a measure of mortality in a study population, relative to mortality in a reference population.

The SMR indicates the relative excess or decrement in the actual mortality experience in the study population with respect to what might have been expect had it experienced the force of mortality in the standard (or reference) population. (2)

We calculate the SMR in two places of Ethiopia

  1. Mai kadara  , Amhara region 
  2.  Galicome, Afar region

The number of observed death due to manmade disaster (killing by TPLF Terrorist group) In Mai kadara, Amhara Region is 600 whereas 242 observed deaths in Galicoma, Afar Region.

The total estimated population of Mai kadara is 45,000 and Galicoma is 36,816 (3-5)

We use Ethiopia population as standard population in order to compare deaths rate due to Manmade disaster (killing by TPLF Terrorist group based on ethnicity) of this two place to standard population (Ethiopia, crude death rate)

We calculate expected deaths by multiplying study population with crude death rate (standard rate) of Ethiopia in 2020 which is 6.3 per 1,000

Expected death in Mai kadara is 45,000x6.3/1000=283.5

Expected death in Galicoma is 36,813 x6.3/1000=231.92   

Standard mortality ratio =observed death / expected death x 100

Standard mortality ratio for Mai kadara is 212%

600/283.5=2.12=212%

In Mai kadara  ,Amhara Region , 112% more deaths occurred than would have been expected

Standard mortality ratio for Galicoma

242/231.92=1.043=104.3%

In Galicoma ,Afar region  4% more deaths occurred than would have been expected

We have calculated the expected death from the total study population and not using the usual formula that is adding the expected death from each age group in the study population because we did not find the population size in each age group of   the study population

The standard mortality ratio is a hypothetical rate and our finding is approximate that is we have used high expected death so our  standard mortality ratio is lower than it would be calculated by adding expected deaths from each age group in the study population  

Our finding shows there is a significant number of deaths of civilians   due to Manmade disaster (killing by TPLF Terrorist group based on ethnicity)  in these two places Mai kadara , Amhara region and Galicoma ,Afar region of Ethiopia  

References

  1. Man-Made Disaster | Monroe County, FL - Official Website https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjfmKO47Yj0AhUVgP0HHY-HCHYQFnoECAIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.monroecounty-fl.gov%2F904%2FMan-Made-Disaster&usg=AOvVaw27LKvq0j7eRIauqQW8_r1W
  2. Victor J. Schoenbach, Ph.D. Understanding the Fundamentals of Epidemiology an evolving text       University of North Carolina School of Public Health Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400 USA
  3. Rapid Investigation into Grave Human Rights Violations in Maikadra: Preliminary Findings" (Digital report). Addis Ababa: Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  4. "Maikadra Preliminary Findings English Final". docs.google.com.
  5. Al Jazeera, 10 August 2021. Ethiopia calls on civilians to join army to fight Tigray forces