Disasters Preparedness and Emergency Response: Prevention, Surveillance and Mitigation Planning

This Special Issue welcomes research papers on new approaches that have been applied or are under development to improve preparedness and emergency response. We especially encourage the submission of inter-disciplinary and crosscutting research. We also encourage the submission of manuscripts that focus on various types of disasters, disaster and emergency research, and on policy or management solutions at multiple scales

Introduction

As citizens, we ought to ensure that our criticisms of Congress are constructive, lest we damage ourselves. In that spirit, the American Bar Association\u27s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice created a special Congressional Process Committee to study selected aspects of congressional procedures and to recommend appropriate reforms. The Committee, which I chair, is composed of administrative lawyers who are experienced in legislative practice, or who have worked in Congress. We decided to address selected aspects of congressional structure and procedure for which we believe administrative lawyers possess relevant expertise. The articles that form this Symposium grew out of that effort. Prepared by a talented group of young lawyers and professors, the articles originated as analytic reports to the Committee, which the Committee used as grist for its deliberations. I must issue a disclaimer: the articles do not represent positions of the Section or of the ABA, which have yet to take formal action on the Committee\u27s recommendations. Nevertheless, I give them my personal testimonial as insightful analyses of important problems that Congress confronts

Disaster Vulnerability

Vulnerability drives disaster law, yet the literature lacks both an overarching analysis of the different aspects of vulnerability and a nuanced examination of the factors that shape disaster outcomes. Though central to disaster law and policy, vulnerability often lurks in the shadows of a disaster, evident only once the worst is past and the bodies have been counted. The COVID-19 pandemic is a notable exception to this historical pattern: from the beginning of the pandemic, it has been clear that the virus poses different risks to different people, depending on vulnerability variables. This most recent pandemic experience thus provides a useful vantage point for analyzing vulnerability. Drawing on empirical data from the pandemic and experiences from past disasters, this Article identifies and discusses the policy implications of three dimensions of disaster vulnerability: the geography of vulnerability, competing or conflicting vulnerabilities, and political vulnerability. First, it explores the geography of vulnerability, using statistical analysis and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The Article presents an innovative COVID-19 vulnerability index that identifies the country’s most vulnerable counties and the leading driver of vulnerability for each county. It demonstrates how this index could have informed voter accommodations during the 2020 elections and mask mandates throughout the pandemic. The Article also shows how, going forward, similar modeling could make disaster management more proactive and better able to anticipate needs and prioritize disaster mitigation and response resources. Second, this Article explores competing or conflicting vulnerabilities––situations where policy-makers must prioritize one vulnerable group or one aspect of vulnerability over another. To illustrate this, it considers two other policy challenges: school closures and vaccine distribution. Finally, the Article explores political vulnerability, analyzing how disasters make already-vulnerable groups even more vulnerable to certain harms, including political neglect, stigmatization, disenfranchisement, and displacement. In sum, this Article draws upon the costly lessons of COVID-19 to suggest a more robust framework for policy-makers to assess and respond to vulnerability in future disaster

Disaster Vulnerability

Vulnerability drives disaster law, yet the literature lacks both an overarching analysis of the different aspects of vulnerability and a nuanced examination of the factors that shape disaster outcomes. Though central to disaster law and policy, vulnerability often lurks in the shadows of a disaster, evident only once the worst is past and the bodies have been counted. The COVID-19 pandemic is a notable exception to this historical pattern: from the beginning of the pandemic, it has been clear that the virus poses different risks to different people, depending on vulnerability variables. This most recent pandemic experience thus provides a useful vantage point for analyzing vulnerability. Drawing on empirical data from the pandemic and experiences from past disasters, this Article identifies and discusses the policy implications of three dimensions of disaster vulnerability: the geography of vulnerability, competing or conflicting vulnerabilities, and political vulnerability. First, it explores the geography of vulnerability, using statistical analysis and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The Article presents an innovative COVID-19 vulnerability index that identifies the country’s most vulnerable counties and the leading driver of vulnerability for each county. It demonstrates how this index could have informed voter accommodations during the 2020 elections and mask mandates throughout the pandemic. The Article also shows how, going forward, similar modeling could make disaster management more proactive and better able to anticipate needs and prioritize disaster mitigation and response resources. Second, this Article explores competing or conflicting vulnerabilities––situations where policy-makers must prioritize one vulnerable group or one aspect of vulnerability over another. To illustrate this, it considers two other policy challenges: school closures and vaccine distribution. Finally, the Article explores political vulnerability, analyzing how disasters make already-vulnerable groups even more vulnerable to certain harms, including political neglect, stigmatization, disenfranchisement, and displacement. In sum, this Article draws upon the costly lessons of COVID-19 to suggest a more robust framework for policy-makers to assess and respond to vulnerability in future disasters

Hurricane modeling in GIS: an investigation of threshold storm events affecting special medical needs populations in coastal Louisiana

Recent hurricane events in coastal Louisiana have emphasized the severe vulnerability of medical special needs (MSN) patients during flood disasters. MSN populations may be comprised of hospital, nursing home or hospice patients; the physically or mentally disabled; medically-dependent individuals requiring life-sustaining equipment or medicines; and frail elderly. Over 150 hospital and nursing home fatalities resulted from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. More than four hundred elderly over the age of seventy perished. Chronic diseases and mental health illness were among the top conditions reported in field hospitals, emergency rooms and shelters immediately following the storm. Louisiana MSN facilities and residences in the southern-most parishes continue to face daunting risks from even minor storms. Principal risks include storm surge and high winds made worse by coastal land loss. Few structures have been designed to withstand hurricane forces and many depend on coastal hurricane protection systems. Many are located in close proximity to industrial facilities or hazardous material sites. Meanwhile, MSN patients and decision-makers lack access to the latest hurricane science. This prevents them from conceptualizing their true hurricane vulnerability. Indications were that high numbers of MSN patients remained in the risk area even while Category 5 Hurricane Katrina loomed towards Louisiana. Many still plan to shelter in place for hurricanes. This manuscript reviews the health and hurricane risks of MSN patients in evacuation vs. sheltering in place in coastal Louisiana. The latest hurricane models are incorporated with critical MSN location data in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine threshold events. Solutions are explored to communicate risk, visualize data, and share hurricane research and GIS tools with MSN decision-makers at the local level. Based on scientifically accredited modeling and associated research, this study has determined the threshold storm event for coastal Louisiana MSN patient evacuation to be a tropical storm. Particularly, rapid hurricane intensification has historically supported that even lower order storms may intensify enough within 48 hours of landfall to create unsafe flood and wind levels. Thus, full MSN patient evacuation south of the Louisiana interstates is recommended upon a tropical storm entering the Gulf of Mexico

Handbook for estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of disasters.

Taken from Introduction: Disasters have a major impact on the living conditions of the population, the economic performance of the countries or regions affected, and on environmental assets and services, with consequences that go beyond the short term and in some cases even irreversibly impact economic and social structures and the environment. In the case of industrialized countries, disasters caused huge damage to the large stock of accumulated capital, whereas losses of human life are limited thanks, among other factors, to the availability of effective early warning and evacuation systems as well as better urban planning and the application of more strict building codes and standards. In developing countries, on the other hand, the number of deaths is usually high because of greater vulnerability brought about by the lack or inadequacy of forecast and evacuation programs; and although losses of capital might be smaller in absolute terms when compared to those in developed countries, their relative weight and overall impact tend to be very significant,1 even affecting sustainability. Disasters may have natural origins or be man-made. However, their consequences derive from a combination of both processes; that is to say, from human interaction with nature and her cycles or systems. Not only do disasters occur frequently around the world, but it would seem that their incidence and intensity have been increasing in recent years. They cause the loss of many lives, directly and indirectly (primarily or secondarily), affect large segments of the population, and cause significant damage to the environment and large-scale economic and social harm

In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster, and Race After Katrina

Studies evidence of environmental disparities by which poor and minority communities are disproportionately exposed to disasters, are less prepared, and have less access to relief agencies. Makes recommendations for preparedness and environmental justice

A Multiple Case Study Investigating Principles of Design and Implementation of Operational Safety Plans for Crises at Colleges, Universities, and Affiliated Institutions

In the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy, the Virginia state legislature mandated that all college-affiliated institutions create an operational safety plan for natural and manmade crises. Previous empirical research has mostly focused on documenting faculty and students’ perceptions of campus safety, preparations for manmade crises over natural disasters, and enhancing specific aspects of emergency responses for future incidents. Thus, design and implementation “best practices” for higher education operational safety plan protocols is an understudied, yet burgeoning area of inquiry. To address this literature gap, a comparative case study of five institutions was conducted using a novel document analysis protocol and interviews to analyze current operational safety plans through the lenses of open systems, rational choice, and chaos theories. Data revealed three guiding principles for design, four factors identified for successful implementation, and five candidate “best practices,” which aligned with the training, emergency threat assessment, emergency management, resources, communication and coordination protocol themes. A practical implication from this study was that the selected institutions placed more attention on operational safety plan response elements than on preparation components, which may mean less than optimal plan execution. Moreover, a significant theoretical implication was the discovery that emergency managers rationalized their operational safety plan decisions based on perceived costs and benefits, which may deprive these plans of the most up-to-date, peer reviewed information. Future studies will contribute additional novel practical and theoretical guidance regarding the essential components for effective operational safety planning that would increase the capability of senior administrators and campus safety personnel to manage risks associated with emergency disasters

Antibody Architecture: Responding to Bioterrorism

Bioterrorism, the use of biological and chemical agents for terrorist purposes, is one of the most potentially significant health and security threats currently facing the United States. Healthcare facilities as isolated entities are alone unable to provide sufficient, adaptable emergency response options during a bioterrorist attack--an unpredictable, low probability, high consequence event. Bioterrorism response must be systemic, distributed, flexible, and responsive for a wide range of event incidents, scenarios and contexts. A significant problem yet to be adequately addressed is the mitigation of the walking well--those who are not sick or injured but have the potential to inundate any designated response setting. Architectural interventions alone are limited in their ability to provide an appropriate response to an act of bioterrorism. An analogy to the human immune system and how it operates in the body to overcome pathogens will be used to articulate a systematic bioterrorism response and a series of architectural interventions for dealing with the walking well. Similar to our immune system, a response network (or system) should be created that operates throughout high risk urban contexts and takes advantage of existing architectural settings in order to deploy as needed and where needed in response to a bioterrorist attack. An antibody response to bioterrorism must be able to adapt to meeting the needs of various scenarios and contexts in which an incident might occur. Drawing on this biological metaphor, any proposed architectural interventions must include latent capabilities while having the ability to be activated in place and scalable in order to accommodate the multiple potential threats and the many variables inherent with bioterrorism. The proposal for an architectural response to bioterrorism is situated in Washington, D.C., identified as the highest potential target city in the United States for acts of bioterrorism. Appropriate latent resources capable of acting as a part of the response network throughout the D.C. urban context will be identified and their potential activation will be explored through two example scenarios, which will be used to illustrate the proposed model for systematic response. The most architecturally significant locations for (activated) small scale interjections will be designed to meet the first response needs of the general population who would be moving about in the city during the detection of an event. These sites and features will allow for differing degrees of self-diagnosis during and following an event as well as provide general day to day and event related public health information. The proposed architectural interjections will be designed to respond to the predicted fear and panic exhibited by the walking well during a bioterrorist attack, and minimize their potential for overwhelming hospitals and other healthcare settings in the target region