Child malnutrition and recurrent flooding in rural eastern India: a community-based survey

Objectives This study aims to improve the understanding of the relationship between exposure to floods and malnutrition in children aged 6-59 months in rural India. Research has focused exclusively on Bangladeshi children, and few controlled epidemiological studies are available. Method A community-based cross-sectional study of child nutritional status was carried out in 14 flooded and 18 non-flooded villages of Jagatsinghpur district (Orissa) within one month of the September 2008 floods, and similarly affected by flooding in August 2006. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 757 households in the flooded villages and 816 in the non-flooded communities. Data used in this study were from those households with children aged 6-59 months. In total, 191 and 161 children were measured, respectively. The association between various malnutrition indicators and the exposure to floods was assessed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results Adjusted analyses revealed that children in flooded households were more likely stunted compared with those in non-flooded ones (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.60; 95% CI 1.05 to 2.44). The prevalence of underweight was also higher in children living in the flooded communities (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.86; 95% CI 1.04 to 3.30). Further analyses found that the 26-36-month flooded cohort, thus those children younger than 1 year during the precedent flood in August 2006, attained the largest difference in levels of stunting compared with the unexposed group of the same age. Conclusion Exposure to floods is associated with long-term malnutrition in these rural communities of Orissa, India. Children exposed to floods during their first year of life presented higher levels of chronic malnutrition. Long-term malnutrition prevention programmes after floods should be implemented in flood-prone areas

Recurrent floods, food insecurity and child undernutrition in rural India

A recent UNICEF report estimated that at least half a billion children worldwide inhabit communities at high risk of flooding, many of which are already affected by unacceptable levels of undernutrition, disease, or lack access to basic services. The vulnerability to floods might be high in rural areas as a result of social inequalities, poor housing, weak infrastructure and food insecurity. Climate change is affecting the frequency and intensity of precipitation. The study of the health’s impact of floods in on the rise. Yet, scant controlled epidemiological studies exist, particularly on the nutritional consequences of flooding on children. Focusing on rural communities affected by two consecutive floods in Odisha (India), this thesis takes an epidemiological approach to elucidate three major questions: whether single and recurrent flood exposure are linked to child undernutrition, what are most vulnerable groups and how to improve the humanitarian response and long-term adaptation.(SP - Sciences de la santé publique) -- UCL, 201

Civil nuclear power at risk of tsunamis

Tsunamis have caused severe destruction to vulnerable populations through the ages. Commonly generated from oceanic subduction zones, they still remain difficult to predict. Recent instrumental record on risk of occurrence can be enhanced when complemented by historical, archeological, and geological studies. We assessed the coast at risk and overlaid civilian nuclear sites active, in expansion and under construction. The worldwide distribution of threatened nuclear sites revealed a clustering in South and South-East Asia. We identified four areas for urgent policy attention, including the need for funding to translate scientific risks assessment into effective policy

Using disaster footprints, population databases and GIS to overcome persistent problems for human impact assessment in flood events

Preventing disasters and their consequences is crucial to protect our societies and promote stability. Reliable information on impact is essential for an in-depth analysis of the factors that lead to disaster and for better disaster prevention and preparedness policies. At present, the estimation of the population exposed to natural hazards is based on proxies of their physical footprint such as flooded regions or watersheds. Satellite hazard footprints, combined with population and disaster impact data, can provide an impact assessment of higher precision. We report here on the procedure to combine such data using GIS methods and compare these estimates with those obtained using a previous approach. We found that the process is feasible, although there were limitations in the matching of disaster databases and possible problems of estimation when the data had different resolutions. In half of the events, the watershed approach largely overestimated the population physically exposed to floods. We conclude that the systematic production of footprints, as well as better methodologies for human impact measurement, would improve our understanding of disaster impacts and thereby strengthen disaster preparedness

Measuring psychological resilience to disasters: are evidence-based indicators an achievable goal?

Despite rising interest on the concept of societal resilience and its measurement, little has been done to provide operational indicators. Importantly, an evidence-based approach to assess the suitability of indicators remains unexplored. Furthermore few approaches that exist do not investigate indicators of psychological resilience, which is emerging as an important component of societal resilience to disasters. Disasters are events which overwhelm local capacities, often producing human losses, injury and damage to the affected communities. As climate hazards and disasters are likely to increase in the coming decades, strengthening the capacity of societies to withstand these shocks and recover quickly is vital. In this review, we search the Web of Knowledge to summarize the evidence on indicators of psychological resilience to disasters and provided a qualitative assessment of six selected studies. We find that an evidence-based approach using features from systematic reviews is useful to compile, select and assess the evidence and elucidate robust indicators. We conclude that strong social support received after a disaster is associated with an increased psychological resilience whereas a female gender is connected with a decrease in the likelihood of a resilient outcome. These results are consistent across disaster settings and cultures and are representative of approximately 13 million disaster-exposed civilians of adult age. An approach such as this that collects and evaluates evidence will allow indicators of resilience to be much more revealing and useful in the future. They will provide a robust basis to prioritize indicators to act upon through intersectoral policies and post-disaster public health interventions

Determinants of the lethality of climate-related disasters in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM): a cross-country analysis

Floods and storms are climate-related hazards posing high mortality risk to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations. However risk factors for their lethality remain untested. We conducted an ecological study investigating risk factors for flood and storm lethality in CARICOM nations for the period 1980-2012. Lethality--deaths versus no deaths per disaster event- was the outcome. We examined biophysical and social vulnerability proxies and a decadal effect as predictors. We developed our regression model via multivariate analysis using a generalized logistic regression model with quasi-binomial distribution; removal of multi-collinear variables and backward elimination. Robustness was checked through subset analysis. We found significant positive associations between lethality, percentage of total land dedicated to agriculture (odds ratio [OR] 1.032; 95% CI: 1.013-1.053) and percentage urban population (OR 1.029, 95% CI 1.003-1.057). Deaths were more likely in the 2000-2012 period versus 1980-1989 (OR 3.708, 95% CI 1.615-8.737). Robustness checks revealed similar coefficients and directions of association. Population health in CARICOM nations is being increasingly impacted by climate-related disasters connected to increasing urbanization and land use patterns. Our findings support the evidence base for setting sustainable development goals (SDG)

Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2009 The numbers and trends

Report of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED