Impact Of Bioterrorism And Natural Disasters

During an emergency such as flood disaster, public health personnel and public health nurse are tasked with different duties to help the victims. The main aim of the public health personnel is to provide health services to people and the community affected by the floods. It is therefore necessary for them to

Tragic events that cause damage to property and life may destroy the social, cultural and economic life of a community. Communities must be engaged in the various phases from prevention to recovery to build disaster resilient communities. In order to do this, there must be a disaster preparedness plan in place that involves multiple people in various roles.

The public health nurse has many resources available to help assist residents after a natural disaster. The priorities after a disaster such as a flood are for providing services in high-risk areas such as adequate and safe water, basic sanitation facilities, liquid and solid waste disposal, shelter, food protection, and personal hygiene. The public health nurse has access to written literature that can be provided to residents who are safe to remain in their homes, which describe food and water safety as well as hygiene measures. If residents are willing to leave an unsafe living environment, the public health nurse is able to locate shelters for temporary safe housing.

The primary response to the Haiti earthquake disaster would involve the issuance of the mandatory briefing, proper gear, and shots before taking off to Haiti. For Haiti nationals, immunization against outbreaks of measles, Hepatitis, and other communicable diseases would come in handy. Education in how to prevent, reduce and avoid spread of commun diseases during this type of event, will be essesntial. On the other hand, the secondary intervention would involve the evaluation of the damage, screening for injuries and diseases, such as infectious and communicable diseases. Finally, the tertiary intervention for the Haiti disaster would involve follow up care and post-traumatic stress educational forums for all the affected individuals (Katz,

Communities, according to Kapucu and Özerdem (2011) have a drastic effect on the recovery process. In the end, by having a recovery place in plan within the community, it will ensure economic and resident resiliency for when a crisis is to occur. In order to ensure such a plan is in place, it is up to the American Red Cross to partner with and focus on the citizen involvement in decision making, from the beginning stages of planning all through mitigation; increase the buy in within the community; and provide for the community in an effective manner after a disaster has occurred Kapucu and Özerdem

Effective disaster management is highly important when it comes to assisting in rescue and relief to affected. This does not only include post disaster rescue efforts but these disaster management activities should be proactive. They start right from taking preventive measures before the disaster actually occurs and goes on till the effected people are resettled back in their lives. This disaster management pertaining to human life is not only associated with physical well being but also focuses on psychological, emotional, and spiritual rehabilitation.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would become the central point-of-contact within the national government in responding to incidents. Since formation in 1979, FEMA’s core missions were to enhance the government’s ability to survive a foreign attack, and to assist state and local authorities in disaster response (Carafano, 2005). And while the two core missions seem heterogenous in scope at times from an outside perspective, the biggest difference between the two tasks is duration. A man-made disaster may be over in a matter of minutes as compared to a hurricane lasting several days, but in both instances the road to recovery is long. In order to streamline response and recovery in either scenario, FEMA was reorganized with new directives to support comprehensive emergency management practices (CRS, 2006). Today, FEMA provides the standard approach and guidance that many local communities may not have due to funding, training, and

Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18.

The terrorist strikes in New York City on September 11, 2001 resulted in one of the largest disaster recovery and cleanup trials in United States history. The recovery efforts hit an expected 91,500 workers which included aides operating in and throughout ground zero. (Ekenga, Scheu, Cone, Stellman & Farfel pg. one yr. 2011). This paper analyzes the many types of items recovery organizations were facing at that time. Many recovery issues that had happened were designed and prepared for "on paper". However, due to the research, there was a lack in multiple groups after the 9/11 attacks that had even showed little improvement towards their recovery plans. Also, the incident presented many un-known issues that had created tremendous difficulties

The differing needs of a vulnerable population have to be addressed in order to alleviate issues that were noted after Katrina. In particular, the needs which are known prior to a disaster, such as evacuation for the infirmed, elderly, impoverished, and those who lack the means to evacuate. The Department of Homeland Security represented a solution to addressing these needs via a three phase response: “pre-event planning and preparation, the event, and recovery” (Dept. Homeland Security, 2008). It has been widely studied that residents of a vulnerable community may be impacted more severely and are disproportionately affected than those with means following a disaster. Assessing how to prepare for each of the phases represents an issue for emergency managers especially when it comes to those who lack the means to prepare for themselves. Quickly rebuilding homes in a devastated area won’t help a community when a disaster strikes again. Platt stated that “disasters offer a window of opportunity to strengthen communities”, via “construction and change land uses to prevent a recurrence of a disaster”. (Platt, 1998) It also can be argued that following a disastrous event, this is when a true opportunity arises, by providing an opportunity to work through solving the societal issues that are the basis for a vulnerable populous via comprehensive political reforms and

The disaster which hit the Maricopa County in the State of Arizona in September 2014 was a major disaster that necessitated the community preparedness for leading successful response and a prompt recovery. Besides emergency managers, many officials and the private are involved in the processes. Some of these stakeholders are public health, public safety, and municipal officials. Collaboration is needed for getting all those involved in the processes to interact accordingly. This paper addresses the major collaboration strengths between emergency responders, public health, public safety, and municipal officials to deliver accurate response and recovery during the event, the main weaknesses of the collaboration among all those that were involved in the efforts, and recommendations for improving the collaboration between the stakeholders.

Whenever a disaster strikes an unsuspecting community, from natural weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes to the manmade catastrophes caused by contamination, local community health nurses become a lifeline for stricken victims, providing medical care, basic sanitation, and nutritional sustenance. While treating the ailments of the sick and dressing the wounds of the injured are the chief priorities for any nursing professional, community health nurses typically administer care within a close-knit population group, and this familiarity often requires the offering of spiritual support as well. The immediate aftermath of any major disaster, whether natural or manmade, is a chaotic time when panic, fear, and uncertainty can easily run rampant, and community health nurses must prepare themselves to handle the nonmedical aspects of assisting patients through their recovery. Setting aside one's personal views on organized religion or faith, alleviating a patient's outward symptoms can only be effective to a certain point when they are grieving for the sudden loss of a loved one, or contemplating an uncertain future after their property and

There is nothing automatic when it comes to disaster response and recovery operations. Each disaster can have its unique character, along with many challenges in the process. As Coppola points out, the task of limiting injuries, loss of life, and further damage to property and the environment is diverse (Coppola, 2011 p. 305). Response and Recovery are everyone’s responsibility. At the federal level, the government, realizes there are many factors involved in organizing and communicating during the response and recovery process. One such factor is the ability to communicate in rural areas of developing countries. People may not hear how the authorities are responding to their needs and panic may set in. Additionally, the multiple language barriers

Risk for disasters is a part of life; emergency situations occur more frequently than many people believe. A wise person plans for the worse, and hopes for the best. After a disaster, how well a community can recover will depend largely on how well they prepared in advance. Risk management includes identifying any potential risks to a community and proactively planning to minimize the threat. Proactive organization of resources and people to respond to emergencies can mean the difference between a community’s ability to regroup and recover, and the loss of life. To better

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.