https://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/issue/feedJournal of Emergency Management2024-02-27T15:15:17-05:00Richard A. DeVito, Jr.radjr@pnpco.comOpen Journal Systems<h2>The Most Respected Name in Emergency Management</h2> <p>The <em><strong><span class="italic">Journal of Emergency Management</span> </strong></em>is edited, written, and peer-reviewed by an internationally recognized team of the foremost, hands-on EM experts. They include top professionals from the public and private sectors who offer real-world experience and practical solutions and leading academics who provide perspective and analysis on the latest research and studies. Together, they bring you the most thorough, relevant, and useful source of information on emergency management.</p> <h2><span class="bluetext">The Most Important Thing You Can Do for Yourself and Your EM Team</span></h2> <h4><strong>Published bi-monthly, every issue of the Journal of Emergency <span class="italic">Management</span> is peer-reviewed and packed with invaluable information and insight. Topics include:</strong></h4> <ul> <li>Emergency planning and response</li> <li>Disaster recovery and business continuity planning</li> <li>Emergency preparedness and response legislation</li> <li>Risk management</li> <li>Emergency management today, tomorrow, and in the future</li> <li>Severe weather, flood, and hurricane studies</li> <li>Emergency communications</li> <li>Continuity of operations and infrastructure protection</li> <li>Preparation and evacuation for the disabled</li> <li>Cross-training in emergency management</li> <li>And much more, including a special focus on EM training and higher education</li> </ul>https://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3585Volume 22, Number 12024-02-15T13:05:17-05:00Journal of Emergency Managementjem@pnpco.com<p>January/February 2024</p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3584Compliance to personal hygiene habits in response to COVID-19 pandemic2024-02-15T13:00:52-05:00Mohammad Y. Alzaatrehjem@pnpco.comHuthaifah Khraisjem@pnpco.comMohammad R. Alsadijem@pnpco.comObay A. Al-Marairajem@pnpco.com<p><em>Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the Jordanians’ compliance rates in terms of personal hygiene habits in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.</em></p> <p><em>Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized to collect data from 651 Jordanians via an electronic self-report questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software</em></p> <p><em>Results: The overall compliance rate for personal hygiene habits among Jordanians was 79 percent (11.85</em>/<em>15, SD = 9). Personal hygiene practices differ significantly across age groups (F = 2, 89, p = .04), gender (t = 5.18, p = .003), marital status (F = 3.09, p = .029), and being a member of a healthcare specialty (t = −2.20, p = .028). Gender, educational level, occupation, and living place were statistically significant predictors for compliance with personal hygiene habits. Compliance rates increased drastically (82 percent) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</em></p> <p><em>Conclusion: Compliance with personal hygiene habits among Jordanians was encouraging in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, there is a chance for more improvement to reach optimum levels of safe and healthy personal hygiene habits. Healthcare authorities shall adopt change management programs and theories to target personal hygiene habits where opportunities for improvement are found.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3583Social media-based demographic and sentiment analysis for disaster responses2024-02-15T12:58:22-05:00Seungil Yumjem@pnpco.com<p><em>This study explores disaster responses across the United States for Winter Storm Jaxon in 2018 by utilizing demographic and sentiment analysis for Twitter®. This study finds that people show highly fluctuated responses across the study periods and highest natural sentiment, followed by positive sentiment and negative sentiment. Also, some sociodemographic and Twitter variables, such as gender and long text, are strongly related to human sentiment, whereas other sociodemographic and Twitter variables, such as age and the higher number of retweets, are not associated with it. The results show that governments and disaster experts should consider a multitude of sociodemographic and Twitter variables to understand human responses and sentiment during natural disaster events.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3582Song, wind, and mayhem: The Indiana State Fair stage collapse2024-02-15T12:55:58-05:00Randy R. Rappjem@pnpco.com<p><em>The study of planning and execution failures resulting in disastrous outcomes for public events often offers much value when preparing for similar future events. While not recent, the lessons learned from the Indiana State Fair stage collapse of 2011 remain especially pertinent, due to thorough technical and managerial forensic investigations and their rigorous examination during subsequent litigation about the fatal event. Continued concern about life safety and inconsistent building code enforcement and design guidance for publicly occupied temporary structures, eg, outdoor stages, recently drew recommended changes by the International Code Council for the 2024 edition of the International Building Code. Codification of technical lessons learned is seldom immediate. Even with checklists and written plans of action, the full context of managerial lessons learned can be forgotten, as people without first-hand experience of earlier disasters plan later events. Salient events of the past can reinforce valuable lessons for today’s practitioners, even to produce building code changes. That is certainly so for the Indiana State Fair stage collapse of August 2011.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3581Best emergency preparedness practices for livestock farmers2024-02-15T12:53:23-05:00Sarah Hippsjem@pnpco.com<p><em>The American cowboy or cowgirl is someone who possesses a unique set of skills that allows them to contribute to the agricultural economy. From feeding animals to land management to business negotiations, these individuals do so much to support the American family by helping to get food on the table across the country, and even beyond in foreign lands on occasion. Therefore, it is important that these livestock farmers know what they can do in the event of an emergency. Yet, many people in the agriculture industry do not know what the best practices are for securing their livelihoods from emergencies. The research material in this paper answers that question. This paper will start with a literature review that looks at key terms surrounding the world of livestock and emergencies. Then, this paper lays out a list of recommendations that livestock farmers can use to enhance their entire operation.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3580A multivariate model for explaining gender differences in commitment to volunteering in the COVID-19 pandemic: The Israeli case2024-02-15T12:50:56-05:00Liat Kulikjem@pnpco.com<p><em>This study examined gender differences in commitment to volunteering and its explanatory variables among Israeli volunteers in the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Commitment to volunteering was assessed based on tendency to continue volunteering over time, expected intensity of volunteering, and tendency to recommend volunteering to others. The sample included 173 men and 331 women. The social-structural and psychological approaches formed the theoretical basis for explaining commitment to volunteering. Data processing was conducted through path analysis. For both genders, routine volunteering explained commitment to volunteering over time. Instrumental motives for volunteering were stronger for men than for women. A positive correlation was found for both genders between the level of anxiety and motive to escape from reality through volunteering. For women, fear of contracting the coronavirus correlated negatively with expected intensity of volunteering. Recommendations are made to volunteer organizations to adopt a gender-sensitive approach when managing volunteers in an emergency.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3578Business continuity plan in the management and operations of hospitals: First experience to certify the PDTA processes with the requirements defined by ISO 22301:2019 in emergency medical services2024-02-15T12:42:24-05:00Lucio Dell’Attijem@pnpco.comRoberto Papajem@pnpco.comLeonardo Incicchittijem@pnpco.comMaria Katia Zannijem@pnpco.comAndrea Zampajem@pnpco.comMichele Caporossijem@pnpco.com<p><em>Background: A business continuity plan (BCP) facilitates the performance of primary functions during emergencies or other situations that can disrupt normal operations. If risk management is done analytically, a business impact analysis (BIA), according to ISO 22301 certification, makes it possible to define the best strategy for supporting the company’s assets and image, optimizing the operational efficiency of service recovery and redesigning spaces for health. Since 2015, our healthcare company has embarked on a certification process for all sectors and activities through the implementation and development of diagnostic and therapeutic paths for operational diagnostic-therapeutic-assistance pathways (PDTAs). PDTA processes are all certified by the ISO 9001:2015 management system hospital. Our hospital is the first healthcare company to have obtained ISO 22301:2019 certification concerning PDTA processes, offering patients the highest standards of quality and safety of care in emergency medical services.</em></p> <p><em>Methods: The formal BCP process includes several steps prior to the creation of a BCP: create a BCP team, conduct a BIA, determine the continuity plan by using the results of the analyses, and conduct training and exercises to educate staff and improve the BCP. </em></p> <p><em>Results: From the BIA analysis, the team identified the time-employee PDTAs in company paths under emergency and urgency: acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), TRAUMA, and STROKE, providing for a planning path that took advantage of the duration of approximately 12 months. This path included the creation of structural procedures, the redefinition and updating of the PDTA in the light of the BCP, the preparation of exercises aimed at guaranteeing the business continuity objectives, and, finally, the awareness of our stakeholders regarding its correct application.</em></p> <p><em>Conclusions: With a business continuity management (BCM) system, companies take preventative measures to ensure they can start operations again quickly in an emergency. An exhaustive BIA in a hospital company reveals the effects when processes fail, how critical each process is for the company, and the amount of time required to get up and running again, thus providing the organization with important information for risk management. The measures for handling risks derived from this analysis are incorporated into a BCM system where the emergency plans are defined, too, so that business operations continue even in the event of an emergency.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3577Hurricane season hindsight 2020: Applying the IDEA model toward local tropical cyclone forecasts2024-02-15T12:39:00-05:00Robert Eicherjem@pnpco.com<p><em>Hurricane Laura began as a disorganized tropical depression in August 2020. Early forecast guidance showed that the tropical cyclone could either completely dissipate or strengthen to a major hurricane as it approached the United States Gulf Coast. While this uncertainty was known by meteorologists, it was not necessarily communicated to the public in a direct manner. As it turned out, the worst-case scenario was the correct one. The tropical depression rapidly intensified and made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, with sustained winds of 150 mph, making Laura a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Laura’s rapid intensification caught some people off guard. Ideally, weather forecasts would have begun warning Louisiana residents to prepare for the possibility of a devastating hurricane in the early stages of tropical cyclone development. No one is suggesting that meteorologists did anything wrong. However, with the benefit of hindsight and decades of scholarly research in risk communication, we can speculate how an ideal forecast would have been written. This paper demonstrates that there are some simple considerations that could be made that might better alert the public to future hurricane worst-case scenarios, even in uncertain situations. </em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3576Community-based organizations at the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic: Strategies for building equitable COVID-19 vaccine uptake and distribution2024-02-15T12:33:40-05:00Rachel Powelljem@pnpco.comBrittany Oladipupojem@pnpco.comDorothy Evansjem@pnpco.comTurquoise Sidibejem@pnpco.com<p><em>The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the disproportionate negative health outcomes faced by racial and ethnic minority communities as a result of various factors that affect health equity. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the overwhelming disparities within communities, public health agencies have aimed to establish partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs) to distribute information about COVID-19 to populations expressing vaccine hesitancy, recognizing that they are necessary partners in ensuring and maintaining equitable distribution of resources. In line with the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Foundation)’s Health Equity Strategy, the CDC Foundation’s Response, Crisis and Preparedness Unit (RCPU) team is responsible for managing the portfolio of more than 110 grants to CBOs across 14 grant opportunities by private and federal funding that supports the COVID-19 response. The goal is to promote activities, including support for sharing of accurate, culturally appropriate vaccine information to address concerns and the development and strengthening of strategic partnerships to support effective community outreach and vaccination. Most, if not all of the CBOs use similar techniques to address equitable vaccine uptake and distribution by partnering or becoming vaccine providers via mobile or pop-up clinics, engaging community health workers, door-to-door canvasing, conducting listening sessions, providing incentives, and hosting community events and communications campaigns. As of June 23, 2022, the funded CBOs have collectively reached over 14.8 million individuals with COVID-19 safety and vaccine education messaging, administered 288,197 COVID-19 vaccinations within their communities, and partnered with 416 public health jurisdictions and 853 community organizations. Two case studies are provided to share specifics on strategies and activities done toward providing equitable information and vaccine distribution. This rapid and flexible grant management process allowed CBOs to focus on the areas of greatest need in their community and select strategies that would be well-received by community members.</em></p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3575Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Management Professionals2024-02-15T12:29:55-05:00Sandy Maxwell Smithjem@pnpco.comShirley Feldmann-Jensenjem@pnpco.com<p>The Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Management Professionals (2022) <em>was recently created to further delineate the ethical boundaries and conduct expectations for professional emergency management practice. Significantly, the code of ethics provides an essential foundation toward recognition as a profession with hallmarks of monopoly, autonomy, and authority. </em></p> <p><em>The code and standards of conduct establish a clear definition of the role emergency management has in overseeing a complex, diverse risk portfolio that protects lives, livelihoods, and quality of life. The document captures the intent, challenges, dimensions, and significance of emergency management practice in a rapidly changing world and brings ethics to the forefront of decisions. This article speaks to the discursive dialogue toward, methodological development of, and future tools for integrating into practice the </em>Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Management Professionals.</p>2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3551Volume 21, Number 62023-12-06T13:27:29-05:00Journal of Emergency Managementjem@pnpco.com<p>November/December 2023</p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3550Improving residential care amid COVID-19: The link between risk factors and hospitalization2023-12-06T13:21:11-05:00Masaatsu Kuwaharajem@pnpco.comTetsunori Kawasejem@pnpco.comSoichiro Kaijem@pnpco.comKazuhisa Shimadzujem@pnpco.comSatoshi Ishiharajem@pnpco.comJun-ichi Hiratajem@pnpco.comShinichi Nakayamajem@pnpco.com<p><em>Aim: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the hospitalizations and backgrounds of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 to identify specific risk factors.</em></p> <p><em>Methods: This retrospective study used health observation records to analyze the relationship between certain risk factors and the subsequent hospitalization of 321 patients who were discharged from a residential care facility between January 16 and February 8, 2021. The usefulness of a hospitalization prediction score, created based on the presence of comorbidities and sex, was examined.</em></p> <p><em>Results: Being older, male, and having a history of high blood pressure or vascular disease were all risk factors. A multivariate analysis with age and hospitalization predictive score as independent variables and hospitalization as the dependent variable showed that age (odds ratio: 1.07, 95 percent confidence interval: 1.03-1.11, p < 0.01) significantly increased hospitalization risk by 7 percent for every 1-year age increase. The median time from illness onset to hospitalization for all patients was 9 days (interquartile range: 8-10). Hypoxia was the most common cause of hospitalization. However, hypoxia and other symptoms, such as cough and dyspnea, were not correlated. </em></p> <p><em>Conclusion: Given the pandemic, there may come another time when hospitals are not able to accommodate all patients who require care. In such instances, age, sex, the presence of comorbidities, and checking oxygen saturation regularly using a pulse oximeter around 9 days after the onset of the disease should all be considered important, as it may lead to improved and safer operation of overnight care facilities.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3549Coping with COVID-19: Standing up a comprehensive behavioral health response to the pandemic2023-12-06T13:15:43-05:00Tona Lynn McGuirejem@pnpco.comTrevor Nathaniel Covingtonjem@pnpco.comKira Brooke Mausethjem@pnpco.comMary Beth Brownjem@pnpco.com<p><em>Integrating behavioral health (BH) into disaster preparedness and response is essential to mitigate and address the BH impacts of disasters, support incident response personnel well-being, and to integrate disaster BH concepts into response strategies and communications. This article describes the development, implementation, and lessons learned from a statewide BH response to this disaster by the COVID-19 Behavioral Health Group (COVID-19 BHG). Operating within the Washington State Department of Health (WA DOH), the BHG is comprised of psychologists and psychiatrists with expertise in disaster BH and response, BH epidemiologists, data analysts, systems specialists, emergency managers, and other DOH staff. The wide array of expertise on the team allowed the COVID-19 BHG to build response functions to match the demands created by the pandemic. This included an Impact & Capacity Assessment function, which developed and distributed monthly impact forecasts and weekly BH situational reports. A Training and Guidance team then collaborated with partners to develop and deliver trainings, resource documents, and public messaging. Additionally, the COVID-19 BHG worked closely with the Health Care Authority (HCA) and BH organizations statewide to maintain the ability of the BH system to deliver care and expand services to meet additional needs. This article describes the development and deployment of an innovative and unique statewide BH response, within the WA DOH during the COVID-19 pandemic.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3548A paradigm shift in disaster management: Incorporating a human rights-based approach to disaster risk reduction2023-12-06T13:12:07-05:00Francesca Ficarajem@pnpco.comMonique Wheelerjem@pnpco.com<p><em>Understanding disasters as socially constructed events represents a departure from current and historic ways in which disasters are characterized, requiring a focal shift in thinking from forces of nature toward social order. Changing societal reactions to evolving natural occurrences restores disasters within the social order, introducing law as an essential framework in approaching disasters as injustices as opposed to misfortunes. International attention is starting to shift strategies intended to reduce risks to natural or man-made hazards and increasing attention on methods toward minimizing their impact known as disaster risk reduction (DRR). DRR is “a policy aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development.” The development of normative frameworks to reinforce disaster governance is a significant component in enhancing disaster management systems. Disaster law is an emerging tool to regulate “governance, ethics, and decisions on the demands of a sustainable, inclusive, and healthy planet.” International legal frameworks heavily influence disaster prevention and preparedness with an increased central focus on implementing International Human Rights Law in DRR practices. Legal structures protecting human rights in DRR initiatives positively obligate states to take proper and necessary actions to prevent harm from future disasters. The application of human rights standards fosters the paradigm shift from evaluation of the hazards impact toward assessments of states’ negligence of risks. Interactions among the natural environment, socio-demographics, and the built environment are strong predictors for disaster losses, thus “the regulatory potential for avoiding disasters and reducing their consequence is obvious.” Preventative action becomes a crucial element if the catalyst of the disaster event is failure to adequately prepare and social vulnerability. Disaster law encompasses participation, damage control, and local habitat management as mandatory conditions of governance, assigning criminal liability to public administrators’ negligence toward disaster planning and</em>/<em>or enforcement. Disaster law produces a “sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective model for addressing disasters,” empowering communities to participate in disaster management efforts, one of the strongest methods of building resilience and reducing risk to disasters.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3547The “judicialization” of emergency management in Belgium: From a safety regime toward a security one2023-12-06T13:09:02-05:00Colin Glesnerjem@pnpco.comCatherine Fallonjem@pnpco.com<p><em>This paper analyzes changes in emergency management in Belgium that have accompanied growing security concerns in Western countries since the 9</em>/<em>11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Using an instrumentation approach, we show how the adoption of a particular regulatory instrument helped put police and judicial actors center stage and gave a more prominent place to the inquiry. We show how the instrument is hampering cooperation, communication, and trust in rescue services and may undermine the collective intelligence at the core of emergency responses. We argue that these changes are indicators of the rise of a new “emergency management security regime” that contradicts the original safety regime applied since the 1960s.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3546Continuity planning for public health crises: Designing workplace redundancies for organizational resilience2023-12-06T13:04:31-05:00Rob Gracejem@pnpco.comSanjana Gautamjem@pnpco.comAndrea Tapiajem@pnpco.com<p><em>Continuity planning prepares organizations to maintain essential functions despite disruptions to critical infrastructure that occur during crises. Continuity planning is especially important for Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), which must prepare to answer 911 calls and dispatch first responders in all-hazard environments, including public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, continuity planning typically focuses on disruptions to cyber-physical infrastructure rather than social infrastructure disruptions that occur when outbreaks of communicable disease limit the ability of essential personnel to perform an organization’s essential functions.</em></p> <p><em>Reporting findings from interviews with US officials, this study examines how PSAPs decentralized essential personnel by designing redundant workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Realizing existing continuity plans prepared PSAPs to relocate and recentralize essential personnel in a single, shared workplace, officials developed new plans to protect and decentralize telecommunicators across multiple, separate workplaces. To do so, PSAPs achieved passive, standby, and active workplace redundancies that recommend continuity planning objectives and requirements for organizations preparing for future public health crises.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3545Accidental release of chlorine from a cylinder during transport and an emergency response plan: A scenario-based study2023-12-06T12:30:44-05:00Mohammad Reza Fallah Ghanbarijem@pnpco.comZohre Ghomianjem@pnpco.com<p><em>Introduction: This article summarizes our research study on the scenario of an accidental chlorine gas release during transportation and preparing emergency response plan to mitigate the subsequent hazards in urban areas.</em></p> <p><em>Methodology: To conduct the research study, the event tree analysis (ETA), a series of brain storming sessions, and a modeling of consequences of an accident using the Phylogenetic Analysis with Space/Time models (PHAST) software were employed.</em></p> <p><em>Results and discussion: Based on the result of the event tree, 32 initial occurring paths and 20 eventual occurring paths are identified as the outcome. The evacuation time is about 41 seconds, which is very short, and the odds of casualties are estimated at 99 percent within a radius of 140-192 m from the release site, 50 percent within a radius of 202-599 m, and 1 percent within a radius of 758 m.</em></p> <p><em>Conclusion: Along with the use of consequence modeling, the development of the ETA can be effective in emergency preparedness. In the case of a chlorine gas release, it would not be possible to effectively control the source of release. Furthermore, the result indicates that in a major city like Tehran, the application and transport of chlorine gas can be a serious challenge.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3544Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) following Hurricane Michael: Gadsden, Calhoun, and Jackson Counties, Florida, 20202023-12-06T12:13:50-05:00Edda Rodriguezjem@pnpco.comChris Duclosjem@pnpco.comJessica Joinerjem@pnpco.comKeshia Reidjem@pnpco.comMelissa Jordanjem@pnpco.comKristina W. Kintzigerjem@pnpco.com<p><em>Objectives: To assess community preparedness and ongoing recovery efforts in the rural counties most severely impacted by Hurricane Michael, including structural and economic losses, injury and illness, healthcare access, and suicide risk and ideation. Design: The Florida Department of Health conducted a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) in January 2020, 15 months after Hurricane Michael made landfall in October 2018.</em></p> <p><em>Setting: A total of 30 clusters were randomly selected from three rural counties in the Panhandle of Florida, including Jackson (15 clusters), Gadsden (11), and Calhoun (four) counties.</em></p> <p><em>Participants: A total of 185 face-to-face and two phone interviews were conducted with residents 18 years of age or older.</em></p> <p><em>Main outcome measure: Hurricane preparedness, structural and economic losses, access to care, and physical and mental health.</em></p> <p><em>Results: Around 43 percent of respondents evacuated as a result of Hurricane Michael, and at least two-thirds of all respondents reported having an emergency supply kit and enough nonperishable food, water, and medication. Structural damage was extensive with 63 percent reporting home damage, averaging over $32,000. Few injuries or illnesses were reported post-landfall (9 percent), with the most common being minor injuries and bacterial infections. Most respondents reported continued access to healthcare if needed. The most common stress-related issues reported were difficulty sleeping (19 percent) and agitated behaviors (10 percent). Seven percent of respondents reported being at moderate to high risk for suicide.</em></p> <p><em>Conclusions: Rural areas may lack resources, such as healthcare facilities, skilled workers, and supplies, that hinder their ability to recover from storms when compared to more urban counties. Many residents reported that 15 months after the storm, their homes were still not fully repaired. A majority of residents were prepared with adequate supplies, had minimal disruption in employment or healthcare access, and had few illnesses or injuries during the storm or the recovery efforts.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3543Assessing the living environment of persons displaced following a strong earthquake sequence in Puerto Rico, 20202023-12-06T12:01:32-05:00Miguel A. Cruzjem@pnpco.comRichard Garfieldjem@pnpco.comJessica Irizarryjem@pnpco.comNorma I. Torres-Delgadojem@pnpco.comMelanie Z. Rodriguez-Riverajem@pnpco.comMartin Montoya-Zavalajem@pnpco.comLeslie Maas Cortesjem@pnpco.comGabriela Algarínjem@pnpco.comTesfaye Bayleyegnjem@pnpco.comRenee H. Funkjem@pnpco.comJose F. Rodriguez-Orengojem@pnpco.comDiego E. Zavalajem@pnpco.com<p><em>In the public health portfolio of disaster tools, rapid needs assessments are essential intelligence data mining resources that can assess immediate needs in almost all hazard scenarios. Following prolonged and unusual seismic activity that caused significant structural damage, mainly in the southwest part of the island of Puerto Rico, thousands of area residents were forced to leave their homes and establish improvised camps. The austere environmental exposure and limited access to safety and hygiene services prompted public health authorities to request assistance with conducting a rapid needs assessment of those encampments. This report summarizes the design, organization, and execution of a rapid needs assessment of improvised camps following a strong sequence of earthquakes in Puerto Rico.</em></p>2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Managementhttps://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3523Volume 21, Number 52023-11-02T12:23:41-04:00Journal of Emergency Managementjem@pnpco.com<p>September/October 2023</p>2023-11-03T00:00:00-04:00Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Emergency Management