Disasters and public health emergencies are increasing. Climate change, transportation incidents,increasing numbers of mass gatherings, chemical and technical incidents, increasing number of armedconflicts and terrorism are some of the major reasons for this increasing pattern. Any of these eventsmay result in severe casualties, destruction of infrastructures and create a situation in which thenumber of victims may exceed available resources. Much of the knowledge in disaster medicine isbased on the “lessons learned”.

However, it has been proven that no lessons learned theoretically can be of practical use if theknowledge is not tested in an appropriate environment. In this perspective, the major clinicalexcellence and testing laboratories for disaster response are the scenes where disasters happen. Yet,most of the research and reports in the field are produced in high-income countries, while most of thedisasters happen in middle- or low-income countries. There is thus a need to bring these twoenvironments together in order to translate theory into practice and among people who are highlyexposed and involved in the multidisciplinary management of a disaster or major incident.