Many Public Health concerns may arise after an earthquake, depending on the magnitude of it. If water and sewage lines are damaged, there is an increased risk for bacterial and communicable diseases to spread. What I found most interesting on the site were the emotional and physiological resources for coping with disasters after they occur. Some reactions identified were post traumatic stress (even years after), grief, anxiety (even in children), and depression (associated with PTS). It is important t to address these issues and not forget about them even after much time had passed since the disaster.
I live in Kern County and we have something similar to the California Disaster Healthcare Volunteer Site. Kern County has the Kern Medical Reserve Corps (KMRC) , managed by the Kern Department of Public Health. The mission of the Kern Medical Reserve Corps is to coordinate the efforts of volunteers with medical and non-medical backgrounds to respond in the event of an emergency incident throughout Kern County.
References:
https://www.healthcarevolunteers.ca.gov
http://kernpublichealth.com/kern-medical-reserve-corps/
https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/23054
https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/disasters/earthquake-resources
Thank you Selenne for your post.
ReplyDeleteIn my fieldwork project, I was able to focus on the disasters and the impact on public health. We need to prepare our communities by provide education, training, and resources in order to be able to deal with any kind of disasters and reduce the impact on the public health.
Selenne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I did not want to move to California because of the earth quakes. I like how schools prepare the children with earth quake drills as well. It is definitely important for everyone to get training so that we can save ourselves instead of being in harms way.