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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. 

The bibliography includes vast amounts of other papers, many of which governmental. The paper shows that a lot of background research was done, which is shown in the bibliography as well. The vastness of their references adds crediblity and authority to this paper. 

1. amount of articles about violence against humanitarian workers on Google Scholar (found >100)
2. violence against MSF staff in Somalia
3. Number of attacks on aid workers (https://aidworkersecurity.org/incidents/report/summary)

Research into historical case studies provided Knowles with the information to produce the research article. The only modern situation investigated was 9/11. Previous disasaters in history provided a basis with which to form the arguments about past disaster investigations and how they relate to the current ongoing investigations. 

1. "One might be tempted to see this as a medically virtuous circle, ... but one has to be conscious that it institutes the body as the immigrant's site of ultimate truth."
2. "These represent two contrasting approaches to the doctor's civic responsibility. However contradictory, the differing positions nevertheless reveal, each in its own way, how these professionals situated their medical expert opinion in a political space where the deontological points of reference had becommed blurred."
3. "...the organic importance of the body, is, basically, nothing more than the importance of the body as organ, or in other words, first as labor power, and only then as a form of self-presentation."
4. "....era in which demand for foreign labor made immigration a social necessity seems now so remote, the immigrant's body was entirely legitimized through its function as an instrument of production, the performance of which was interrupted by illness or accident."

The argument is supported through various anecdotes and testimonials. The authors use quotes from various victims in order to highlight the ways in which they were affected by Katrina. Notably, Sally, a 56-year-old woman from St. Bernard Parish who was still living in a FEMA trailer 50 miles from her original residence 2 1/2 years after the storm was interviewed. She talks about the living conditions post-Katrina. She describes families being torn apart, the National Guard using unnecessary force, and dead bodies floating in the water. The authors also use statistics and facts in order to back up their point about the horrendous conditions the survivors were in post-Katrina. A psychological and anthropological analysis also helps strengthen their argument regarding chronic disaster syndrome.

1. "First, disasters threaten harm or death to a large group of people, regardless of the actual extent of lives lost (48). Second, they affect social processes, causing disruption of services and social networks and communal loss of resources (42, 50). Third, they involve secondary consequences, namely identifiable mental and physical health outcomes, among those affected"
2. "Having the capacity to continue functioning after a traumatic event is common and characteristic of normal coping and adaptation"

3. "The key functions of pre-disaster preparation efforts are to prevent or minimize exposure to potentially traumatic disaster-related events and reduce likelihood of additional post-disaster stressors, which are both associated with post-disaster mental disorders."

Users are given data regarding radiological and nuclear emergency response. They are given data that can be further supplemented with data, images, and background material from REMM online.