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Mutual Aid/Best Practices vs Local Practices

_jzhao

This image reminds me of how mutual aid and communities keep each other fed, and safe, and how local practices are actually best practices. My own research, although not immediatley related to the specific public health concern of COVID, will focus on Indigenous food soverignty, particularly the right and autonomy to ferment and distribute alcohol (紅糯米酒) within the Amis community, and their current fight with the local health department on declaring whether or not their alcohol is "safe" for public consumption and distribution.

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Sara_Nesheiwat

I further researched the history of sexual violence and its role in times of war, since its use as a weapon was mentioned. I also researched the background of sexual violence and stigmas that are associated with them in the countries mentioned in the article, in order to better understand underlying meanings and cultural struggles aside from the obvious atrocities of the violent act. Also since Medecins Sans Frontieres kept being cited, I did further research on them since much of the study was based off their findings, this lead me to further study Doctors Without Borders, which is what it is commonly known as in the US.

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Sara_Nesheiwat

I found aspects involving the governments response to the situation very unconvincing. I would like to have seen more in the documentary about the government's attempts to inform and the actions they took. This may have been due to a lack of efforts taken by the government. Yet seeing more about the government's involvement as well as the hospital's and doctor's would have made that side of the situation far more compelling. The way it was portrayed in the documentary made it very unconvincing and I was not compelled by it. 

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Sara_Nesheiwat

The bibliography of this article is quite extensive and thorough. This shows that a lot of research and effort was put into this article. The sources cited are all from very reputable labs, organizations, and researchers. This reflects the validity and expertise in this article. 

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Sara_Nesheiwat

The author is Scott Gabriel Knowles and he works in the department of History and Politics at Drexel University. He focuses on disaster risks in cities, modern areas and public policy. He got his BA and MA in history at the University of Texas. He also got his PhD at John Hopkins University. He has written a book,  "The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America" (UPenn Press, 2011) as well as edited  "Critical Studies in Risk and Disaster" (UPenn Press, launch 2014).  He also is a member of Fukushima Forum collaborative research community and is currently co-writing a volume on the Fukushima disasters.

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Sara_Nesheiwat
Annotation of

There are many websites and papers that cite this website due to the extensive amounts of data that are collected from this site. The website provides a lot of information and data based off health afflictions as a result of 9/11. Since this registry is the largest of its kind, data from it is pulled for numerous studies on 9/11 and its health effects. 

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Sara_Nesheiwat
Annotation of

Rikers Island: The subject of this article, it's NYC's main jail complex. It is under scrutiny for poor living conditions of inmates.

Hailey-Means: Interviewed for this article, she was incarcerated in 2015 provides insight into the horribly smelly and toxic conditions she experienced. She is quoted and cited nearly 20 times about solitary and other aspects of the jail.

The New York Times: They were mentioned in the article as having published and spoken out against the violence and human rights issues at Rikers.  

Preet Bharara: US attorney for Southern District of NY who, as of 2014 planned to sue the city for abuse of inmates on the island.

Michael Bloomberg: His run as Mayor was cited when he announced the city's evacuation plan, which did not include a plan or route for Rikers island at all. 

Johnny Perez: A past detainee of Rikers who revealed the extreme temperatures that are reached inside cells and the jail itself. He is now workign to reduce the population and close the jail. He is also now part of the Urban Justice Center.

Susi Vassallo: Conducted temperature monitoring on Rikers Island. She is a professor at NYU med. She determined that the temperature extremes were a seriously health threat and unsafe. 

New York City Panel on Climate Change: Is cited in the article in order to show the extremes that temperature are expected to get by 2080, proving to be a complication for Rikers and it's inmates.  


Carvett Gentles: Another inmate who discusses the oven feeling of his cell and how he has fainted before due to it.

Omar Smith: Was incarcerated in 2014, he has had severe asthma that developed while at Rikers, coughing up blood is something that isn't new to him due to pollution in the area it is speculated. 

Bill de Blasio: Mayor of NYC, he is calling for reform of the jail and has allocated 200 million for upgrades and renovations for Rikers. 

Department of Corrections: Responsible for care and detention of inmates in NY state. In this article they acknowledge the need for improvements in the jail.

Freddie McGrier: Another inmate that was interviewed and confirmed atrociously hot temperatures inside the jail. He states his heart is affected as well as his migraines because of the heat.

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Sara_Nesheiwat

Emergency response is addressed in different ways in this article. In terms of true emergency response during and immediately following the disaster, examples of emergency response can be seen in the recounting of those that were interviewed, but they weren't explicitly discussed in the article. The article does however extensively discuss aid that followed the disaster and discusses that aspect of emergency response, and more so the recovery and resiliency aspects of it. Such as government funding, aid relief, conditions in which things were left, hardships that those who survived came back and had to deal with, how medical care, socioeconomic factors and much more were highly effected post Katrina.

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Sara_Nesheiwat

The data used to support the argument includes numerous publications by other authors providing information on the correlation between mental health and disasters. Background information on different disorders is also provided as well as interviews and case studies from patients and doctor as well as experts on the topic. 

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Sara_Nesheiwat

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in 1986 led to a ten day reactor fire that resulted in a large and unknown amount of radiation spilling into the surrounding areas in Ukraine. This caused the contamination of the environments and those around the reactor. Hundreds of thousands of people had to evacuate and to this day it remains to be an issue. Due to this controversy that still surrounds this disaster, the IAEA, FAO, UNDP, UNEP, OCHA, UNSCEAR and WHO created the Chernobyl Forum. They generate "authoritative consensual statements" on the environmental consequences due to the radiation exposure. Ultimately they and this event in Chernobyl are what called for this report.