Selected Topics - Emergency Management

• UNSW Emergency Management Unit
  Provides an all-hazards approach to the response and preparation to and for emergencies on campus

Events

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Upcoming Events

Global policies and related documents

Reports, guidelines and projects

• Development of Models of Emergency Preparedness
  "….The emergency preparedness models in this report can help field- and facility-based health care professionals plan for and respond to bioterrorism events or public health emergencies. The evidence-based, best-practice models provide guidance on personal protective equipment, decontamination, isolation/quarantine, and laboratory capacity. The models were developed for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)….".
• Child Protection in Emergencies
  This report from Save the Children examines the plight of children in emergency situations. It outlines the international legal frameworks that govern the rights of children including human rights law and security council resolutions, as well as the psycho-social implications for the children themselves. It offers recommendations and suggests protection priorities, encompassing integrating and implementing protection, gender based violence, children associated with armed forces and the provision of education.
• Earthquakes in El Salvador: A Descriptive Study of Health Concerns in a Rural Community and the Clinical Implications – Part II
  Results reported in Part I of the Earthquakes in El Salvador series (see Disaster Management & Response 2003; 1: 105-9) indicated clinically relevant findings. The findings indicated a need for greater public health action within all five categories reviewed: healthcare, access to healthcare, housing, food, water and sanitation. Significant results between urban and rural communities indicated a need for broader community aid, public health and sanitation services to rural areas. Faster and more efficient disaster management and care services throughout the San Sebastian community were also necessary modifications. [publication abstract] [Disaster Management & Response 2004; 2(1): 10-13]
• Emergency Capacity Building Project
  The Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB) is a collaborative effort of seven humanitarian agencies that are jointly tackling common problems in emergency response and preparedness. Over a two-year period, these agencies and their strategic partners are addressing issues pertaining to staff capacity, accountability (primarily to affected populations), impact measurement, risk reduction, and the use of information and technology in emergencies.
• Hazards of Nature, Risks to Development
  "This report is the first ever assessment of World Bank assistance for natural disasters, and one of the most comprehensive reviews of disaster preparedness and response ever conducted. The report calls for new thinking that integrates predictable disaster risks into development programs. The report concludes that it is possible to anticipate where many natural disasters will strike, yet expresses concerns that the World Bank's disaster assistance efforts are underutilizing these vital lifesaving forecasts."
• Impact of a Category-3 Hurricane on the Need for Surgical Hospital Care
  Introduction: Hurricane Ivan, a strong category-3 hurricane, struck Grenada on 07 September 2004 and devastated the country. Grenada is a small, developing country, whose socio-economic environment and health service is typical of most countries located within the Caribbean hurricane belt. Previous reports describing the consequences of hurricanes on health-related issues have focused mainly on the experience of wealthier countries. Objective: The objective of this study was to document the types of patients and medical problems faced by a hospital surgical service as a result of a forceful hurricane in a developing country and to help surgical divisions in developing countries prepare for strong hurricanes. Methods: This is a retrospective study using medical records from the surgical ward of the Grenada General Hospital. Patients admitted to the surgical ward during the month following Ivan were assessed with respect to diagnosis, age, gender, and length of hospitalization. The patients admitted during the same period the previous year were used as a control group. Results: The effects of the hurricane included a significant increase in the proportion of patients seen for diabetic feet, gunshot wounds, and infections due to wounds. The median length of the treatment time increased by 25%. In 2004, the total number of patients was 185 and in 2003, there were 167 patients admitted. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that preparations for future hurricanes should include securing the capacity to handle the increased needs for hospital care, and ensuring that stocks of medicines, such as insulin and antibiotics, are sufficient, properly stored, and easily available to patients (e.g., by storing medicine at hurricane shelters equipped with generators and cold storage facilities). Diabetics should be instructed to use proper footwear to reduce the risk of cuts from debris. [author abstract] [Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 2007; 22(3): 194–198]
• Importance of animal/human health interface in potential Public Health Emergencies of International Concern in the Americas
  This study analyzed the importance of zoonoses and communicable diseases common to man and animals as potential Public Health Emergencies of International Concern to build an evidence base for future efforts to reduce risk of infection at the animal/human health interface. The events recorded in the World Health Organization (WHO) Event Management System (EMS) database for the Americas during the 18 months since the implementation of the 2005 revised version of WHO’s International Health Regulations (15 June 2007–31 December 2008) were the main source for this analysis. Of the 110 events recorded by the EMS for the Americas during the study period, 86 were classified as communicable diseases — 77 (70.0%) “within the animal/human health interface,” 9 (8.2%) “not common to man and animals,” 16 (14.5%) “syndromes with unknown etiologies,” and 8 (7.3%) “product-related/ other.” Of the 77 events within the animal/human health interface, 48 were “substantiated” (the presence of hazard was confirmed and/or human cases occurred clearly in excess of normal expectancy). These results confirm previous research and underscore the importance of the animal/human health interface as well as inter-sectoral collaboration. [author abstract] [Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2011; 29(5): 371–9]
• Integration of foreign and local medical staff in a disaster area: the Honduras and El Salvador experiences
  International medical aid after natural disasters may take various forms, ranging from self-sufficient military forces to single experts or specialists who function primarily as advisers. A model integrating foreign and local medical staff has not previously been reported. In response to the call for international aid by the Honduran and El Salvadorian governments in the wake of Hurricane Mitch in November 1998 and the San Salvador earthquake in January 2001, Israel sent medical supplies and 10 member teams of medical professionals to each country. The aim of the present paper is to describe the unique Israeli approach to providing healthcare in disaster areas by integrating foreign and local medical staff, and to discuss its advantages and disadvantages. The paper focuses on the experience of the two emergency medicine physicians on the team who were assigned to the Atlantida General Hospital in La Ceiba, Honduras. The same team in San Salvador subsequently applied the same approach. [author abstract] [European Journal of Emergency Medicine 10:124–129 (2003)]
• Is human rights prepared? Risk, rights and public health emergencies
  "A new force seems to be at work in public health law and practice. Consider, for example, the proliferation of references to 'preparedness'; specifically, 'public health emergency preparedness' and its more specialised variants such as 'public health emergency legal preparedness' and 'international legal preparedness'. There is also increasing use of related phrases such as 'global public health security' and 'international health security'. Of course, a proliferation of terms is not enough to prove that a new force is in play: language shifts all the time in all sorts of areas, and although such changes may reflect and contribute to deep social transformation, they can also be nothing more than passing fashions with little or no impact. But public health emergency preparedness does not feel like a superficial, short-lived trend: in fact, it seems almost the exact opposite." [Medical Law Review, 17, Summer 2009, pp. 219–244]
• Malaria control in complex emergencies: An inter-agency field handbook
  This interagency handbook was developed by the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Technical Support Network on Complex Emergencies. It focuses on effective malaria control responses to complex emergencies, and provides policy-makers, planners, field programme managers and medical coordinators with practical guidance on designing and implementing measures to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality.
• National Disaster Management - Kiribati
  Includes details on legislation, mission, organisational structure, training, equipment, finances and staffing.
• Protecting and Assisting Older People in Emergencies
  "This paper summarises the major policy and practice issues affecting humanitarian protection and assistance for older people, and recommends measures to ensure that older citizens caught up in humanitarian crises enjoy equal rights and a fair share of humanitarian resources, and are included in decision-making in programmes that affect their lives."
• Protecting Persons Affected by Natural Disasters - Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters
  Floods, earthquakes and storms have routinely displaced thousands around the world for decades. Over the past few years, the international community’s response to these catastrophes has become ever swifter and more sophisticated. Until very recently, however, and in the rush to deliver life-saving aid, little attention was paid to the rights of these displaced people. The publication of these guidelines reflects an understanding of the need for the humanitarian system to provide to the people on the front lines of disaster response the guidance they need to ensure the protection of the rights of the people left homeless by natural disasters.
• Public health impact of disasters
  "This paper explores the public health effects of natural disasters and some of the public health principles which can be applied to disaster management. The impact of natural hazards on the public’s health can be divided into four categories: (i) direct impact on the health of the population; (ii) direct impact on the health care system; (iii) indirect effects on the population’s health; [and] (iv) indirect effects on the health care system." [Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Spring 200, pp.58-63]
• Public health risk assessment and interventions – Earthquake: Haiti, January 2010
  "The purpose of this public health risk assessment is to provide health professionals in United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations, donor agencies and local authorities currently working with populations affected by the emergency in Haiti, with up-to-date technical guidance on the major public health threats faced by the earthquake-affected population. The topic areas addressed have been selected on the basis of the burden of morbidity, mortality and potential for increase in the area." [World Health Organization (WHO/HSE/GAR/DCE/2010.1)]
• Sphere Handbook
  The Sphere Handbook sets out what people affected by disasters have a right to expect from humanitarian assistance. The aim of the Project is to improve the quality of assistance provided to people affected by disasters, and to enhance the accountability of the humanitarian system in disaster response.
• SUMA
  SUMA, the Supply Management System from the PAHO/WHO, is an information management tool that helps national authorities to make order of the chaos often caused by uncoordinated humanitarian assistance. SUMA uses simple software to track items from the moment donors commit to sending supplies until they are distributed effectively to the affected population.
• World Disasters Report 2009 - Focus on early warning, early action
  "While natural hazards cannot be prevented, they only become disasters because affected communities are vulnerable and unprepared. Early warning systems have been proved beyond doubt to save lives and reduce economic losses at all levels, as this report explains, but they are still not an integral part of disaster management and risk reduction globally. Nor is early action – the culture of prevention as the Hyogo Framework for Action called it – an effective and timely response to early warning, across different timescales. This report argues that early warning without early action is not enough; early action can do more to reduce loss of life and protect livelihoods than can be achieved through emergency response alone. National governments, donors and all stakeholders must take up this challenge. The World Disasters Report 2009 features: An introduction to early warning systems for different hazards and early action; People-centred early warning and early action; Early action and bridging timescales; Climate change – the early warning; and Food insecurity: what actions should follow early warning?" [International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies]

Educational resources

• Disaster Reduction Gateway
  The Disaster Reduction Gateway is an initiative of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre to promote information sharing and cooperation between people with an interest in disaster reduction. On this site you will find links to the websites of organisations, groups and individuals who are involved in disaster reduction or support it in some way. All are based in the UK but many are active internationally.
• FAO GeoNetwork
  "FAO GeoNetwork is a tool to fight hunger and rural poverty by using satellite imagery, spatial databases and interactive maps to help developing countries isolate the causes of food shortages was launched by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. ... Users overlay maps from multiple servers housed at development institutions worldwide to create customized thematic maps on their own computers covering such variables as land cover, soil quality, vegetation, population density and marketing access. ...When an emergency occurs, the maps created by the different agencies in their respective fields of expertise can be combined to see the relationship between different factors affecting the populations and the environment..."

Organisations and Networks

• Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC)
  The aim of the DIMRC website is to provide access to quality disaster health information to the nation at all stages of preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery. The initial phase of this website focuses on NLM (US National Library of Medicine) and NLM-supported resources and activities. The website will expand to include other sources of authoritative disaster health information.

UN and multinational

• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is the world's largest humanitarian organisations providing assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinion.
• WHO - Health action in crises
  This site outlines the health actions being taken by WHO in crisis situations throughout the world

Government

• Centre of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance
  This is a federally funded project given a mandate by the US Congress to improve the coordination and integration of the world's response to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and peace operations.

Non Government

• AlertNet: - Alerting humanitarians to emergencies
  An emergency news website provided by the Reuters Foundation
• Disaster Research Centre
  The Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware conducts field and survey research on group, organisational and community preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters and other community-wide crises. DRC researchers have carried out systematic studies on a broad range of disaster types, including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous chemical incidents, and plane crashes.
• GDIN
  GDIN is a voluntary, independent, self-sustaining, non-profit association of nations, organisations, and professionals, from all sectors of society including NGOs, Industry, Academia, Governments, and International Organisations with an interest in sharing disaster information.
• ProVention Consortium
  The ProVention Consortium is a global coalition of international organisations, governments, the private sector, civil society organisations and academic institutions dedicated to increasing the safety of vulnerable communities and to reducing the impacts of disasters in developing countries. Working through partnership and collaborative action, ProVention links key actors and resources together so that efforts and benefits are shared. The Consortium aims to advance disaster risk management in developing countries by forging partnerships and linkages; advocating among leaders and decision makers for increased policy attention and commitment to reducing natural hazard risks; developing innovative approaches to the practical applications of disaster risk management; and sharing knowledge and resources for organisations, practitioners and communities active in disaster reduction.
• Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI)
  The Public Entity Risk Institute's mission is to serve public, private, and non-profit organisations as a dynamic, forward thinking resource for the practical enhancement of risk management. PERI provides synergy among existing programs and organisations and serves as a catalyst in the risk management field and a vehicle for allocating greater resources to key needs in risk management.
• ReliefWeb
  News and information source provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
• Telecoms Sans Frontieres
  A member of the United Nations working group of Nations United on Emergency Telecommunications (WGET), Telecom Sans Frontieres is a specialist telecommunications humanitarian NGO.

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• Australasian College for Emergency Medicine
  An incorporated educational institution whose prime objective is the training and examination of specialist emergency physicians for Australia and New Zealand.
• CRED
  The Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) is an international non-profit institution and UN Collaborating Centre located within the School of Public Health, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels.
• Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness
  The Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness, based at the Yale School of Public Health, was first funded by the Centers for Disease Control and the Association of Schools of Public Health in 2005. The Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness works to ensure that frontline public health workers are prepared to respond to public health emergencies including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and disease outbreaks. To achieve this mission, the Center focuses on the preparedness of the existing public health workforce, as well as new members of the workforce, and offers specialty education to those who plan to focus on public health preparedness.

Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports

Conference reports

• Surviving Crisis: How systems and communities cope with insecurity, instability and infection
  Edited by Pilar Ramos-Jimenez, Johannes Sommerfeld and Anthony Zwi, these papers constitute the proceedings of a workshop held in the Philippines in 2002. The meeting, which brought together participants from Africa, Asia and South America addressed the ways in which communities affected by political conflict respond to infectious diseases. The participants discussed the coping strategies and adaptions made by communities and the people's resilience amidst adversity.

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

Bibliographies, Libraries

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop