Here are 10 basic facts to know about keeping hospitals and health facilities safe from disasters:

1. Many factors put hospitals and health facilities at risk: buildings, patients, the health workforce, equipment, and basic lifelines and services.

2. Components of a hospital or health facility are typically divided into two categories: Structural elements and non-structural elements.

3. Functional collapse, not structural damage, is the usual reason for hospitals being put out of service during emergencies.

4. Hospitals and health facilities can be built to different levels of protection: life safety, investment protection and operations protection.

5. Making new hospitals and health facilities safe from disasters is not costly. It has been estimated that the incorporation of mitigation measures into the design and construction of a new hospital will account for less than 4% of the total initial investment.

6. Field hospitals are extremely expensive and not necessarily the best solution to compensate for the loss of a hospital or health facility.

7. A check consultant is vital for ensuring the disaster safety of critical facilities such as hospitals.

8. Building codes are of utmost importance.

9. Creating safe hospitals is as much about having vision and commitment as it is about actual resources.

10. The most costly hospital is the one that fails!