Health

Citation

(2006), "Health", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315eag.007

Health

Health

MedlinePlus

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/naturaldisasters.html

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/copingwithdisasters.html

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/disasterpreparationandrecovery.html

These web pages from MedlinePlus, a service of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, provide links to information on health-related issues pertaining to natural disasters, coping with disasters, and disaster preparation and recovery.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Law Program

www.cdc.gov/phlp/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Law Program has redesigned their web site to improve its organization and make it easier to use. Some older materials have been deleted and many new ones, especially ones related to emergency legal preparedness, will continue to be added over the next few months.

Public Health Grand Rounds

www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/satellitebroadcast.asp

Public Health Grand Rounds, a partnership project sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, aired “Learning from Katrina: Tough Lessons in Preparedness and Emergency Response,” a program focused on the public health implications and vulnerabilities of disaster preparedness. The archived webcast is available here.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5504a1.htm

The February 3, 2006, issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report featured “Assessment of Health-Related Needs After Tsunami and Earthquake – Three Districts, Aceh Province, Indonesia, July-August 2005.” The report summarizes survey results of the health and nutrition status of tsunami-affected populations and evaluates the effectiveness of relief interventions seven months after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5509.pdf

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report highlighted the public health response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with two special issues. While the first issue focused on public health activities in Louisiana, the March 10, 2006, issue focuses on activities in other states, including Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, and Colorado, directly or indirectly affected by the two hurricanes.

Summary of Four After-Action Reports on Hurricane Katrina

www.astho.org/pubs/KatrinaReportsSummary.pdf

A Summary of Four After-Action Reports on Hurricane Katrina by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials reviews Hurricane Katrina reports from the White House, the US House of Representatives, the US Senate, and the Government Accountability Office to aid in understanding the public health implications of their proposed actions.

“The Importance of Evidence-Based Disaster Planning”

www.atsdr.cdc.gov/2p-emergency-response.html

“The Importance of Evidence-Based Disaster Planning” by Erik Auf der Heide was published in January's Annals of Emergency Medicine and is available here for free download. The article examines several common assumptions about disasters, compares them with research findings, and discusses the implications for planning as they pertain to disaster medicine.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5502.pdf

The April 7 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report features “Surveillance for World Trade Center Disaster Health Effects Among Survivors of Collapsed and Damaged Buildings.” It presents the initial findings from the World Trade Center Health Registry, which was established to monitor the status of September 11 survivors, and details a variety of health concerns from the more than 70,000 enrollees.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5516a4.htm

The April 28 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report features “Health Hazard Evaluation of Police Officers and Firefighters After Hurricane Katrina – New Orleans, Louisiana, October 17-28 and November 30-December 5, 2005.” Approximately, one third of the respondents in the evaluation reported either depressive symptoms, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or both.