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I'm interested in better understanding the ongoing geological processes that shape St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley region. So far, I've been looking into the history of seismicity in the region, focusing on the fascinating but little known history of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 -- the most devastating earthquakes to have hit the US east of the Rockies. I've also been exploring how St. Louis and surrounding areas are dealing with the possibility of another earthquake occurring in the future. According to one article I read, one of the biggest uncertainties is what would happen to the heavily engineered Mississippi River in the case of another major tremblor. The shaking could break the levees, flooding wide areas along the river and creating cascading effects. The flow of the river might also reverse completely, as occurred during the New Madrid earthquakes.

On these possibilities and the lack of scientific consensus surrounding intraplate seismicity in this zone, see this article in The Atlantic.

On current efforts to create earthquake hazard maps in St. Louis, see this overview on the US Geological Survey site.

For a deeper dive into the history of the New Madrid earthquakes, see this book by historian of science Conevery Bolton Valencius. 

Scott Gabriel Knowles, PHD is a department head and associate professor at Drexel University in the department of history and the center for science, technology and society. Prof. Knowles specializes in the history of technology, disasters, and public policy.

This article has been referenced in other articles that study disaster PTSD, mental health after hosting refugees from a disaster, and using epidemolody to help draft policies for disaster response. These papers all further the research and possible benefits for humanity.

The web platform was made for socail scientists and ebola control workers, so that they had a way to communicate, share stories, and review information from other cases. They also serve as an advisor in this way, for the responders as well as volunteer organizations going abroad to help.

This article presents an argument for “compassion protocol” by examining what France has done—provide citizenship to immigrants who are not and suffer from a serious medical problem so that they can take advantage of full benefits of the healthcare system. This goes along with the larger theme of the difficulties in placing value on the lives of people who need care and weighing the costs of distributing that precious resource.

The paper mostly focuses on how the survivors recieve long-term care, since they have severe financial struggles in the aftermath of the disaster. This impacts emergency response since we do need to be funded in some way, and if it is not covered by the healthcare system in the area, then the cost is placed on the individual. If they are in need of immediate care, then this is an issue. They have many health conditions caused by the disaster that could cause a sudden health emergency. If they do not feel they can financially support calling an ambulance, then it places the person's life in jeopardy.

Scott Gabriel Knowles is an associate professor of history at Drexel Univeristy, as well as the director at the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry in the Pennoni Honors College. These postitions show his knowledge in areas of history and investigavion, as he discusses in this article

Dr. Vincanne Adams is the “Former Director (2000-2012) and Vice-Chair, Medical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine (joint program with UC Berkeley Anthropology). Areas of research and publication include: Global Health, Asian Medical Systems, Social Theory, Critical Medical Anthropology, Sexuality and Gender, Safe Motherhood, Disaster Recovery, Tibet, Nepal, China and the US.”

Taslim van Hattum is a Director at the Maternal & Child Health Portfolio at The Louisiana Public Health Insitute, part of the Greater New Orleans Area Hospital & Health Care, and studied at the Louisiana Public Health Institute as well as the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Diana Bianchi is the director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with experience in prenatal geneticist, pediatrics, and obstetrics.

"The contributors write: “Data are important, of course, but numbers sometimes imply an order to what is happening that can be misleading. Stories are better at capturing a different type of ‘big picture'.""

"Four decades later, in 1995, suicidal thoughts brought this anxious man back into the psychiatric system, at age 70. For the first time, he was put on an antidepressant, Zoloft. Six weeks out, both the panic attacks and the depression were gone. He resumed work, entered into a social life and remained well for the next 19 years — until his death."

Didier Fassin is an anthropologist and sociologist. He was a doctor trained in internal medicine and public health, and has taken to working on humanitarian projects. He writes this article from this combination perspective - with a medical background as well as anthropology and sociology experience. He focuses more on his position and knowledge of the latter, as he writes with with politics and humanitiarianism in mind