Editorial
Why Are We Still Building Unsafe Hospitals?

Why is it that hospitals are still being built without the necessary safeguards to ensure that they can function after a disaster, even though the necessary knowledge exists and is readily available, even though many countries have expressed the requisite political will to protect these critical facilities (but have not, necessarily, translated this will into action) and cost is not really the limiting factor? (More)

Natural Disaster in Colombia Impacts Population Already Displaced by Violence

The department of Santander, Colombia has a population slightly in excess of 2 million and is home to 66,500 IDPs, those who have been internally displaced due to the ongoing violence in the region. Bucaramanga (population 568,000) is the capital of the department and is one of six Colombian cities with a large IDP presence in which PAHO/WHO maintains a field office. (More)

WHO Conference on the Health Aspects of the Tsunami

In early May, some 400 delegates from all corners of the world met in Phuket, Thailand, an area hard hit by the earthquake and tsunami of last December, at the WHO Conference on the Health Aspects of the Tsunami Disaster in Asia. (More)

International Workshop on Management of Dead Bodies

Many natural disasters such as Hurricane Mitch in Central America, flash floods in Venezuela and Haiti, and earthquakes in Iran and Turkey have challenged the capacity of both the affected countries and the international community to adequately manage the large number of deaths. (More)

ProVention Sponsors Grants for Disaster Risk Reduction

The ProVention Consortium has awarded modest grants to individuals and/or teams in developing countries to encourage them to become more involved in disaster risk reduction. Recipients of the first round of grants presented their findings at a “Global Symposium for Hazard Risk Reduction” at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (More)

SUMA Team Deployed to Indonesia at the Request of WHO

In the weeks following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that devastated Indonesia last December, international aid poured into the country. At the request of WHO, a SUMA team was dispatched to help the Ministry of Health to classify the supplies piling up in warehouses. (More)

The Center for International Disaster Information
Readies for Next Hurricane Season

Last year, after several major hurricanes devastated the Caribbean, the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) aggressively tackled the problem of inappropriate donations. CIDI provides guidance and information in support of appropriate international disaster relief before groups and individuals start to collect it. (More)

Mexico Marks 20th Anniversary of Devastating Quake

Twenty years have passed since a devastating 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City on the morning of September 19, 1985 (a second quake, magnitude 7.5, struck the following day). The damage to health infrastructure was shocking. In the three largest health institutions in Mexico City—the Social Security Institution’s National Medical Center, the Hospital General and the Hospital Juarez—5,826 hospital beds were lost either to the direct impact of the quakes or because the hospital had to be evacuated. (More)

Central American Disaster Coordinators Meet

Disaster Coordinators from the Ministries of Health and disaster focal points from the PAHO country offices in Central America, together with representatives from regional national emergency commissions, met in Panama to review how they have fared in implementing the overarching regional disaster reduction plan for the health sector, approved in 2003, in addition to the sub-plans that were subsequently developed on mental health and the transport of hazardous materials. (More)

Caribbean Disaster Coordinators Meet

The 11th Caribbean Health Disaster Coordinators meeting was held in Tortola, British Virgin Islands on 10 and 11 May. Over 40 representatives from the English, Dutch, French and Spanish speaking Islands States attended. (More)

Disaster Mitigation
in Health Facilities—Wind Effects

Each type of natural disaster poses a unique risk to health and health facilities. In the case of hurricanes, the effects of high winds can affect both the structural and non-structural elements of a hospital or clinic. (More)

Health Preparedness Guidelines for Volcanic Eruptions

Most of the active volcanoes worldwide are concentrated in Latin America and the Caribbean and millions of people live in cities and towns close to them. Throughout history, these volcanoes have demonstrated their enormous capacity for destruction. (More)

World Bank Publishes Book on Global Risk Analysis

The World Bank and the Earth Institute at Columbia University has published: Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis (ISBN: 0-8213-5930-4; $20; March 2005). It assesses the global risk of mortality and economic losses from disasters and combines exposure to six hazards—earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, drought, and cyclones—with historical vulnerability for two indicators of elements at risk—gridded population. (More)

Selected Bibliography

The articles listed in this section may be of interest to health professionals and others responsible for disaster preparedness, mitigation and relief. (More)