2022 – Page 3 – NYU GPH Journal of Public Health Disasters

May 15, 2022March 2, 2023

Katrina Paleologos and Emily Zambiazzi’s Water Shortage Crisis in the Lower Colorado River Operations Plan

Climate change has affected the Colorado River by reducing the river’s flow by 20% compared to measurements taken in the early 1900s due to extreme heat, dry soil and decreased vegetation, increased water evaporation, and reduced rainfall and snowpack. As a result, an emergency water shortage was declared in an attempt to reduce water usage in surrounding farms, which use 70% of the water, and rapidly growing cities.

May 15, 2022February 23, 2023

Caroline Romano & Bethlehem Tesfaye’s HIV/AIDS Outbreak and Response Plan in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

In South Africa, 7.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and more than 3 million of them do not have access to treatment; in fact, only 70% of people diagnosed with HIV are on sustained treatment in South Africa, making it one of the worst HIV epidemics in the world.

May 15, 2022February 23, 2023

Mentalla Abbas, Alyson Marcinkowski, Marissa Sogluizzo’s Emergency Disaster Plan for Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks in Refugee Camps in Lebanon

Lebanon houses approximately 1.5 million refugees, and the continued influx of unvaccinated individuals in the country has caused several vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, causing some organisms to become endemic such as measles and influenza.

May 15, 2022March 2, 2023

Callie Seaman and Maddie West’s Emergency Response Plan for the New South Wales Bushfires

In the state of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia, bushfires become worse in recent years, more frequently due to extreme weather fueled by climate change, and are an expensive problem accounting for 10% of the cost of all major disasters in Australia. Since NSW is the most populated state and its environment is diverse, there is an urgent need to implement high-quality fire preparation, management, and response plans to protect the parks, reserves, and citizens.

May 1, 2022March 2, 2023

Preventing the Effects of Food Insecurity on Climate Change By Yining Liu

The issue of food insecurity is a problem that Liu finds important to advocate for, with roughly one-third of food produced in the U.S. is disposed of as waste. Liu describes that food waste results in energy waste when producing, processing, transporting, and preparing food. When food ends up in landfills, carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases are emitted, contributing to the effects of climate change.

April 25, 2022February 23, 2023

Michelle Bandel’s Exemplar on Three Perspectives on Preparedness

Michelle Bandel was able to identify a lot of takeaways for emergency preparedness from three interviews that are part of an assignment. In the first interview with Thomas Chin, the Response Coordinator from San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, he mentions that his team oversees the duty officer program and manages the alert, warning, and notification systems for the public.

April 18, 2022February 23, 2023

Rebecca Sherrod, Maddie West, Nancy Daneau’s Qualtrics Survey and Report on Risk Perceptions COVID-19

In this Qualtrics report, MPH students Rebecca Sherrod, Maddie West, and Nancy Daneau presented the data of a cross-sectional, quantitative study on risk perceptions of COVID-19. In this survey, 41 participants were asked to respond to 17 questions through distributed personal links, anonymous links, or email.

April 18, 2022February 23, 2023

Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Case Study by Alyson Marcinkowski

Ebola, first appeared on the map in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Identified as a deadly zoonotic disease. Ebola spreads to humans through contact with bodily fluids and tissues of infected animals after which transmission can occur human-to-human via the same mode of transmission (direct contact with bodily fluids). What started with two cases in the Bikoro region in May of 2018 turned into the 9th Ebola outbreak since 1976 which lasted from May 2018 to July 2018 and resulted in 54 cases and 33 deaths.

April 18, 2022February 23, 2023

New Zealand Christchurch Mosque Shootings: A Case Study by Sabaa Alnsour

The Christchurch Mosque shooting of March 15, 2019 catalyzed New Zealand’s gun law reform and increased scrutiny surrounding the use of social media as a primary source of information following this tragic event. As Alnsour describes in a recount of the events, White supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant began his attack on Al Noor Mosque, shooting at about 190 worshippers before driving to the Linwood Mosque to continue his rampage on another 100 worshippers. Tarrant killed 51 people with the use of 5 different guns, all of which he had legally purchased before he was arrested by the police.

April 17, 2022January 10, 2023

Justice Quaye’s Brief on Mitigation and Community Resilience

In this brief, Justice Quaye describes the importance of community resilience during disasters since they are the first line in disaster management, especially since they are the individuals impacted. Quaye lists the various ways communities may be involved in mitigating disasters such as blowing horns, ringing the church bells, running from house to house, and so on. Therefore, Community Base Risk Reduction and Community Base Disaster Management are powerful tools for building proactivity and resilience in disaster mitigation.

Read Justice Quaye’s brief here