The medical condition of those transported to hospital was determined by an emergencymedical doctor upon their arrival at the hospital. Five categories were used to describe the medical condition of the patients in the FDMA database: dead, critical (for patients with a condition where death is imminent), serious (for patientswhowere likely to require hospitalization
for N3 weeks), moderate (for patients who would require hospitalization for b3 weeks) and mild (for patients who required no hospitalization) (Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency,2003). Daily ambulance dispatch data were collected from all available fire stations within each area and aggregated.