Natural Disasters

Natural disasters such as a tsunami, earthquake, hurricane or mudslide can trigger a cascade of social and health problems. Before the advancement of injury prevention, injuries were viewed as random, unavoidable accidents. Where a natural disaster is unavoidable, the injuries associated with them can be reduced through pre-event, event and post-event intervention. Injury intervention involves prevention/limitation of energy build-up, controlling circumstance of energy use to prevent release, modifying energy transfer to limit damage and improving emergency response, treatment, rehabilitative care to limit disability and promote recovery. 

Hurricane Katrina triggered a re-evaluation of the United States emergency response to natural disasters. The lives lost, homes destroyed and displacement of communities has had a huge impact on New Orleans and the surrounding area. Our nation is still responding to the aftermath of the hurricane. For instance, a deadly amoeba was found in St. Bernard that when inhaled through the nose causes a deadly meningitis. The free-living, Naegleria fowleri, amebic infection has claimed the lives of several individuals. The Lousiana Department of Health and Hospitals argue that the presence of amoeba found in chlorine treated water is a result of population decline after the hurricane. St. Bernard was a thriving 67,000 person community before the hurricane but the population has declined to almost 15,000 after Hurrican Katrina. The underuse of the public water system has allowed the chlorine to dissipate, allowing the pathogen to colonize and grow. An outbreak such as this can be hard to predict but disease and injury prevention methods that would require surveillance of the public water system may have prevented such an outbreak. 

Injury prevention in regards to a natural disaster include reduction in environmental impact, advancement in emergency response and limitation of disease occurence. Environmental protection including dams, reservoirs, wind protectors can reduce the structural damage often associated with a hurricane or tsunami. Increased adherence to emergency response pre-event can limit the number of people directly exposed to a hurricane or tsunami by evacuating the area. Pre-event emergency response also includes an evacuation plan and roads that can meet the needs of the community. Post-event emergency reponse includes better response time to emergency situations and quick transport time to a hospital. 

The recent mudslide in Washington state emphasizes the importance of occupational and environmental safety. Landslides and floods are unfortunatlely common and present a major public health concern. A total of 24 people have died from the mudslide and several are still unaccounted for. More than a square mile of a residential area along the bank of a river has been affected by the mudslide. Injury prevention would include evaluation of the soil and observation of rain levels to predict and prevent the impact of a mudslide.