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pece_annotation_1472998837

Andreas_Rebmann

Sonja D Schmid. She is an assistant professer in Science and Technology Studies at Virginia Tech. She studies the history of nuclear energy and the decisions governments make around nuclear power. Due to her background of studies, she appears to be a trustable source.

She has discussed responses to nuclear disasters, however she has no on the field background that I could find. She is on a CERT team but thats not in the field.

pece_annotation_1479089077

Andreas_Rebmann

“During our interviews in Turkey, many of the conversations we had - with those suffering seizures, with family members, persons in the community, and health care providers - were made up largely of stories. We were told stories of the sudden and shocking onset of seizures or fainting, of particularly dramatic episodes of seizures or extended loss of consciousness, of years of efforts in which families and individuals engaged in a quest to find a cure, of especially memorable interactions with physicians and with religious healers, and of experiences at work, with friends, and, for example, in marriage negotiations that were influenced by the illness.”

“The same issue was raised in our attempts to elicit a "history" of the illness _ again, a problem shared by physicians who attempt to elicit a clinical history. The stories we heard were life stories, and the temporal structure was organized around events of importance to individuals and families.”

“Narrative is a form in which experience is represented and recounted, in which events are presented as having a meaningful and coherent order, in which activities and events are described along with the experiences associated with them and the significance that lends them their sense for the persons involved. But experience always far exceeds its description or narrativization.”

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erin_tuttle

Emergency response is addressed both in short term, through the interviews with survivors about their escape from the floodwaters and transport out of the city, as well as the lasting effects of the program and response efforts. The immediate response was not as effective as it could have been, in great part the collaborative efforts of communities rather than response groups. The delay in the arrival of response groups such as the National Guard and the Red Cross was in part due to a lack of communication, after the hurricane a significant amount of damage was done to the infrastructure of the city, creating difficulties for the rest of the country to know how serious the flooding was when the levees broke. This delayed the response and likely was responsible for the loss of many lives and continued traumatic experiences of many survivors. The following years showed an immediate lack of interest by the nation once the initial disaster was over. The article highlights this problem with emergency response, that rebuilding after a disaster can be even more challenging then the initial response and requires continued support for those effected.

pece_annotation_1473603392

Andreas_Rebmann

Dr. John Watson, the primary author of this study, works for WHO as a medical epidemiologist with the Disease Control in Humanitarian Emergencies Program (this program is the one providing technical and operational support for the study). In his work, he particularly studies respiratory disease and tuberculosis, focusing on surveillance, prevention and control. He is a Chairman of the International Society for Influenza.

pece_annotation_1476641935

erin_tuttle
  • “interest in how disasters could influence communities and result in large-scale effects, as well as interest in the mental and physical health consequences of different types of disasters, the influence of context on risk to mental health, and the distinct needs of different types of disaster victims.” (170)
  • “Consistent with life-course epidemiologic perspectives (37), characteristics or experiences of individuals before, during, and after a disaster may influence mental health outcomes and interact to produce psychopathology.” (174)
  • “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. Local governments and communities can reduce the likelihood and severity of disaster exposure” (176)

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Andreas_Rebmann

To deliver medicinial aid wherever aid is needed throughout the world, especially where human suffering is greatest.

To quote their website:

"We are Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). We help people worldwide where the need is greatest, delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care."