Skip to main content

Search

Seismic St. Louis

Emily Sekine

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. 

pece_annotation_1478460383

jaostrander

The main stakeholders portrayed in this film is the Marines and family members of Marines living at Camp Lejeune. Many of them have been diagnosed with cancer, likely caused by chemicals in the base's water supply. Several of the victims have united to question the government and the actions they failed to take after reports of polluted water.

pece_annotation_1473571446

Sara_Nesheiwat

Paul Farmer cites this paper in some of his other studies and articles written after this. The article has also been cited in a book entitled "Social Medicine in the 21st Century" by Samuel Barrack. This article has also been cited in: 

https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10612556/3585352.pdf;sequen…

http://opensample.info/blindness-survey-methods-response-from-sudan-stu…;

pece_annotation_1480140707

Sara_Nesheiwat

Humanitarian aid is not directly a form of emergency response in a sense of EMS, but it does give help and attention to those in areas of need, and often times, forms of aid are medically related. Though emergency response isn't directly addressed in this paper, humanitarian aid is a form of a response to an emergency situation. This paper focuses more on the analysis of humanitarian efforts to those that at one time may have needed emergency response in the moment due to violent act. Yet the paper focuses on the social aspects of humanitarianism and its tie to gender based violence, not EMS or emergency response.

pece_annotation_1474147197

Sara_Nesheiwat

There were numerous people invested in this situation and effected by the repercussions of it. The main focus is on the citizens of Liberia. The film shows their account of what happened, in terms of the severe amount of deaths and deplorable conditions in which they lived in. There was a complete lack of health care and public health or awareness, as well as resources such as food and supplies. Citizens were at first not taking the situation as seriously as it should have been, not heeding the warnings from doctors, convinced the government was exaggerating. Yet, once the turmoil and panic of officials was displayed, citizens soon began to worry. There were issues and decisions made involving protecting themselves from the disease as well as their families. Those infected also faced many issues. There was a complete lack of resources for those separated from the population due to infection. There were scarce amounts of food, water, supplies and medical attention. Fear, death and disease spread fast throughout the population. Decisions about not only quarantine and families had to be made, but also decision of whether leaving the country was a good choice, as seen by the main family in the documentary. Other stakeholders include health care officials as well as government employees. There were many decisions made by them in terms of allocating resources, as well as informing citizens about the situation. 

pece_annotation_1480789835

Sara_Nesheiwat

There are numerous methods utilized to support the claims in this paper. Research workshops were analyzed and discussed and the conclusions and discussions of experts were examine and presented. There was also an ample amount of expert interviews that were discussed and analyzed. The authors' expert opinions as well as analysis of current data can be seen throughout the paper, but also an analysis of the lack of health specific data. 

pece_annotation_1481593242

jaostrander

Didier Fassin is an anthropologist and a sociologist, who was initially trained as a physician at Paris University Pierre et Marie Curie. During his time there he practiced internal medicine and taught public health. In 2009 he was appointed at the Institute for Advanced Study as the James D. Wolfensohn Professor. Didier Fassin’s most recent project, Humanitarian Reason, explores how immigrants, refugees, and minorities are treated in France. He also has heavy connections to MSF or Doctors Without Borders.

pece_annotation_1474161926

Sara_Nesheiwat

After looking up the bibliography, many of the citations found were government agencies or studies performed on bioterrorism, biological weapons and disease security, all from reputable sources and agencies. This shows that a lot of work and investigation went into this paper and it is valid and accurate research. 

pece_annotation_1473109381

jaostrander

The main argument of this article is that there needs to be more of a focus on emergency response to nuclear disasters and less directed toward nuclear safety and that safety/emergency response should take a higher priority than company trademarks. She claims that nuclear emergency response should be more of an international response and less of a single nation response.