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Editorial
Capturing Progress in Disaster
Reduction:
100 Issues of the Disasters Newsletter
It was 1979 when PAHO
published the first issue of its quarterly newsletter Disaster
Preparedness in the Americas (the word “mitigation”
was added to the title in 1992). At that time, PAHO had neither
e-mail nor a fax machine to keep abreast of disaster preparedness
activities in and beyond the Americas. Instead, the Organization
relied on a steady stream of memos and cables to learn about
meetings, research, publications and other initiatives underway
within the relatively small disaster community. The first
newsletter was typed (yes, on a typewriter), photocopied and
sent by hand to a very limited circle of people who were interested
in developing contacts and learning more about this area of
growing interest: preparing to face the health effects of
disasters.
Today, many things have
changed. Not only is the software and hardware used to put
together a newsletter much more sophisticated, the number
and diversity of channels (some would say the excess of channels)
through which we receive news have multiplied at such a rapid
pace that it is virtually impossible to keep up with who is
doing what in the Americas, let alone the rest of the world.
What has not changed,
however, is why and for whom this newsletter is published.
The Disasters newsletter has attempted to showcase
the initiatives and steps taken by countries in Latin America
and the Caribbean (and beyond) to prepare for and respond
to the health consequences of disasters. From the earliest
issues, it has promoted a horizontal exchange of knowledge
and ideas among disaster professionals by citing contact information
for each news piece (a much quicker task today, thanks to
e-mail, than in 1979!)
Today, the print newsletter
coexists with an online Internet version, which is available
on PAHO’s disaster web site (www.paho.org/disasters).
The e-newsletter is available at least three weeks before
the print copy reaches your office or home by mail. If you
would like to know when the electronic version is online,
drop us a note at disaster-newsletter@paho.org and you will
be added to the e-mail distribution list.
Speaking of e-mail distribution
lists, you can join the almost 6,500 people, or 25% of our
subscriber database, who have sent us their e-mail address
and now receive news items between issues of the newsletter.
Your e-mail address will remain private, your mailbox will
not be overloaded and you can opt at any time to unsubscribe.
Send your e–mail address to disaster-newsletter@
paho.org .
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