Australian hospitals unable to cope with major emergency

In the absence of established preparedness standards in the two countries, the survey of 88 hospitals had to rely on US criteria established in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The benchmarks were established by US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American model requires all US states to be prepared to treat 500 persons per million above usual capacity. In the event of a disaster in metropolitan Sydney, this would be equivalent to just 1,900 extra patients. This rather conservative benchmark could be exceeded in the event of a bird flu epidemic, a major industrial accident or terrorist attack.

The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 killed some 50 to 100 million people worldwide in just 18 months. In Australia, an estimated 10,000 people died. Typically influenza kills infants and the elderly but in this case the strain affected young adults and otherwise healthy people. Symptoms appeared suddenly. Within hours, victims were too feeble to walk. Many died within 24 hours.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/may2007/health-m15.shtml