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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. 

Schmid looks back on many accounts of what the results were for other nuclear and non-nuclear events. She is trying best to figure out how to involve the "lay society" into the currently highly scientific disscussion. 

The article reviews the actions taken throughout hospitals during hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The review was based on the cases that a few patients were 'euthanized' by physicians in order to mitigate their suffering even though it was against protocol. It analyzes where the disconnect is between practitioner and community beliefs. 

A great number of the references from the articles bibliography reference many of Farmers other research papers. This article also researches many data collections in regards to the data which supports the push to a heavier emphasis on biosocial solutions. 

MSF is funded through donations and is a 503(c) nonprofit organization. In FY 2014 MSF received $19.5 million for worldwide projects. They hold fundraisers through companies and individuals. 

The main point of this article is to point out the flaws in the capabilities and living areas provided by Rikers island correctional facility. The article is discussing the flaws behind the current standards set at Rikers, and how the facilities downfall are placing the health of the inmates at risk for basically everything up to death. They talk about many of the issues that face individuals including flooding, water outages, and even unintentional extended stays because of unusually high jail bail. They discuss the reforms and possible closeature of the facilities, and how it would affect the population.

“The response to the disaster was recognized as a bureaucratic nightmare that, regardless of the intent of the federal and state governments, appeared to homeowners as a sign of their having been abandoned.”

"What I experienced was coming back to the devastation of the city. No grocery stores, no cell phone service, certainly no phone service, no regular phone service. We actually had to get other cell phones. You know, it was a ghost town."

'“Chronic disaster syndrome” thus refers in this analysis to the cluster of trauma-and posttrauma-related phenomena that are at once individual, social, and political and that are associated with disaster as simultaneously causative and experiential of a chronic condition of distress in relation to displacement."