Search

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 author's name is Sonja D. Schmid. She is an associate professor at Virginia Tech teaching primarily STS courses. She does research pertaining the history and organization of nuclear industries in the Former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe. One of her areas of specialization include nuclear emergency response, which makes her a good source for information regarding Fukushima. 

• "For a variety of reasons, including a heightened awareness of medical error and a focus on cost cutting, we have entered an era in which a narrow, demanding version of evidence-based medicine prevails. "
• "No formal research can offer a 40-year lead-in or a 19-year follow-up. Few studies report on both symptoms and social progress. Research reduces information about many people; vignette retains the texture of life in one of its forms."
• "Beyond its roles as illustration, affirmation, hypothesis-builder and low-level guidance for practice, storytelling can act as a modest counterbalance to a straitened understanding of evidence."
• "We need storytelling, to set us in the clinical moment, remind us of the variety of human experience and enrich our judgment."

While this study does not address vulnerable populations, per say, it does study cancer in patients under the age of 20, which can be considered a vulnerable population as they were young when the disaster occurred. 

This article discussed gender-based violence in the context of humanitarianism. It focuses on rape and assault and whether or not they should be treated by humanitarian efforts as other issues are. The author provides pros and cons to humanitarian intervention and the implications of each. 

Paul Farmer has used this paper in later works and has been published in various journals and books. 

This report includes Recommendations towards the end that provides an analysis of the data collected and ways in which these can be improved and fixed in the community. Some include that insurance companies should cover transgender-related health care, ways to end violence against this community, that medical providers should avoid bias and provide proper, equal care, and that more data needs to be collected and obtained to continue in the fight against discrimination.

The article cites various studies and uses the experiences of organizations in order to help plan for the future. The authors use the WHO and the CDC as these examples of experience. They draw upon the AIDS crisis as an example of global outreach and of a public health crisis. Innovation in science is discussed and ongoing research experiments. DOTS (Directly-Observed Treatment, Short Term) program is discussed as well and its shortcomings in dealing with TB.

They also use many examples of situations in which violence against humanitarian workers and facilities occurred. 

They stress the importance of recordkeeping and how that has the ability to change the future outcomes of safety. I would imagine they stress it so intensely due to issues they had in the past. They also have the challenge of dealing with public sectors and workforces not in their jurisdiction. While they are helpful for those they cover, those they do not provide concern in that they can't protect the workers and avoid accidents and emergencies.