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pece_annotation_1473111566

Sara.Till

Sonja D. Schmid, Ph.D., works as an assistant professor of STS (science and technology studies) at Virginia Tech. Her expertise includes history of technology, social studies of risk, and energy policy with a concentration on nuclear industry and proliferation. Dr. Schmid appears to have an extensive list of publications following the Fukushima incident, including a book on the development of the Soviet Nuclear industry (MIT 2015). 

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Sara.Till

1) MSF policy on neutrality: One of the main aspects of humanitarian aid is to remain removed in the conflict at hand, thus assuring unbiased help towards all individuals involved. This comes from neutrality, a tenant stating that MSF and other humanitarian agencies working under MSF will not "pick" or join one side of the conflict nor will they grant a side an advantage. 

2)MSF operations head arrest: At the time of the Sudanese conflict, the Dutch branch of MSF released a report decrying the severe sexual violence perpetrated during fighting. This, in turn, led to the imprisonment and charging of MSF head of mission, Paul Foreman. The MSF report was read in the 2005 Annual International General Assembly, entailing the ongoing violence against women in the Darfur conflict in an attempt to raise awareness about the continued issue. 

3) Darfur Conflict: An major armed conflict started in 2003 with the rebellion of several liberation movements (SLM & JEM) against the Sudanese government. The violence reached a cease fire in 2010 where talks began, propagated by Doha mediators, but an agreement was never met. Thus, violence has continued through 2016, including a chemical weapon attack in September.

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Sara.Till

1) Haitian government instability: Despite some knowledge of the Dominican Republic, I hadn't fully grasped the political instability in Haiti. This is an important factor when looking at disaster relief as political climate can often dictate how well or poorly aid is received.

2) USAID: I've chosen to delve into more about the USAID, including what countries are currently being given aid and how, including Haiti.

3) UN Peacekeeping units: obviously, a force meant to be helpful and to bring the world a little closer. Yet, the article seems to indicate peacekeeping forces can do more harm than good; I'm curious to see if this is a common theme, and if so, why this continues to occur.

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Sara.Till

Emergency response itself is not discussed in this article; this report mostly focuses on nuances of emergency/aid worker experiences. Particularly, it centers on the sheer, inexplicable lack of information surrounding attacks, harm, obstructions, and threats experienced by health care workers.

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Sara_Nesheiwat

It is important to note that this is the third chapter of the book, so when looking up the bibliography online, it was determined that for the entire book, there were hundreds of citations and references used. Most of them were studies, articles and other works ranging over years and years, done by experts in the field. There were also a lot of press articles and studies from foreign countries as well. This all showing an extensive and thorough amount of research that went into this book. 

http://14.139.206.50:8080/jspui/bitstream/1/2057/1/Fassin,%20Didier%20%…

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Sara.Till

While there was criticism of the policy (see the Washington Post's rebuttal), the policy appeared to be well received until implementation of quarantine for returning health care workers. This, and the backlash, caused the policy to be revised and invited confusion about guidelines. Leaders may have lost political points by staying firm with their guidelines, but chose to revoke their initial decisions-- leading to confusion and worry in the general population. 

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a_chen

The convention can be applying to a State that is possibly involving in nuclear activities or might  have any nuclear effects to the surroundings. Or the state that can notify the accidents that in  the other states.   Due to 22 September 2014, there are 119 parties (states) subject to entry into force with 69  states signed the convention (Convention – Latest Status). 

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Sara_Nesheiwat

Vincanne Adams is a PhD at UCSF School of Medicine, she's the former Director and Vice-Chair of Medical Anthropology and History and Social Medicine. Her areas of research and publications include: Global Health, Asian Medical Systems, Social Theory, Critical Medical Anthropology, Sexuality and Gender, Safe Motherhood and Disaster Recovery, Tibet, Nepal, China and the US. Van Hattum works at the Louisiana Public Health Institute and Diana English is a professor at Stanford hospital. They all deal with populations that are effected my disaster and are disadvantaged economically and socially. 

http://profiles.ucsf.edu/vincanne.adams

pece_annotation_1474553485

Sara.Till

Preston's article mentions the EPA still had not formulated and enacted a plan for cleanup-- it should be noted the year of publication was 2006. She claims "After an expert panel failed last year to settle on a method for organizing an E.P.A. cleanup, the agency said it would proceed anyway with limited testing and cleaning". Moreover, in the 10 years since publication, several studies have indicated increased public health risks and chronic illness prevalence in populations near the disaster zone. It seems the approach of sit-and-wait did nothing but exacerbate the issue, leading me to believe this will serve as a symbol in any future pollutant-laden disasters.