Pediatric Practice Readiness for Disaster Response

Background: Nepal is highly susceptible to various types of natural disasters, with approximately 90% of its population at risk of experiencing multiple hazards. The country ranks 30th in terms of flood risk, with hilly regions prone to landslides and lowland plains frequently affected by floods. Each year, disasters such as floods, landslides, fires, heat waves, cold waves, and epidemics cause significant loss of lives and livelihood assets. Given the critical role of gender in disaster vulnerability, it is essential to analyze gender-specific perspectives on disaster risk and resilience. Objective: The study aims to explore gender roles and their associated vulnerabilities in disaster events. By examining the perceptions of males and females regarding different disaster-related variables, the research seeks to provide insights into gender-based differences in disaster preparedness, response, and resilience-building efforts. Methods: A quantitative study was conducted in Sarawal Rural Municipality of Nawalparasi West, Nepal. A total of 428 respondents were selected through random sampling, comprising 311 males and 117 females. The study employed six major disaster variables as defined by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) to analyze gender perspectives critically. Statistical methods were used to assess the association between gender and disaster perception. Findings: The study revealed a significant association between gender and disaster perceptions. Males and females demonstrated differing views on disaster risks, preparedness, and coping mechanisms. Understanding these gender-specific differences can help determine levels of vulnerability, identify associated risks, and enhance the coping capacities of different groups. Conclusion: The findings emphasize the need to incorporate gender perspectives into disaster-related research and resilience-building initiatives. Addressing gender-based vulnerabilities can lead to more effective disaster preparedness and response strategies, ultimately improving community resilience. Novelty: This study provides empirical evidence on the gendered dimensions of disaster perception in Nepal, highlighting the importance of integrating gender considerations into disaster risk management. By focusing on a rural municipality, the research offers localized insights that can inform policy and program development for gender-inclusive disaster resilience planning.

Disasters have a significant global impact every year and disproportionally effect vulnerable populations. Disaster response efforts are often inequitable leaving already vulnerable populations at risk. These inequities in disaster response represent a social justice concern for congregations and congregational social workers and must be considered in future disaster recovery efforts. As churches and faith organizations provide essential disaster response and recovery services, this article outlines a model for increased inequity in provision of disaster response and recovery efforts. A case illustration using the COVID-19 pandemic is provided for further exploration of the equitable disaster response model in the context of congregations and congregational social work.

Disasters are major events that have significant effects on individuals, communities, and health care systems. Nurses are valuable resources that have a role in disaster response. However, barriers in disaster education in nursing programs negatively affect nurses' knowledge and skills in disaster preparedness and response. A literature review was conducted to better understand the disaster response educational needs of nurses and to explore gaps in nurses' preparedness for disaster response and nursing education and training. Findings indicated disaster response education is a vital component of nursing education. When provided with effective disaster education, nurses are better equipped for disaster management and disaster response. Challenges in educational needs continue, and nurses lack specific disaster knowledge and preparedness. Further research is needed to identify effective teaching strategies for disaster response and preparedness. Emphasis should be placed on integrating disaster education into nursing education programs at all levels. [J Nurs Educ. 2025;64(4):235-238.].

Lay Health Workers can play a pivotal role in improving disaster response and recovery because of their potential effectiveness in enhancing the overall health of their communities, increasing disaster preparedness, supplementing the efforts of disaster responders, and building relationships of trust among all interested parties. Such activities build social capital and significantly enhance community resiliency in anticipation of future disasters. Although there are a number of different types of lay health workers, the version with the greatest potential in this area is the Community Health Worker (CHW). Recent research findings confirm that CHWs serving in the communities where they live have been beneficial in emergency management planning and disaster recovery, following both natural and technological disasters. When properly trained, they constitute a proven strategy for timely interventions aimed at reducing long-term collective trauma and building social capital. In this paper, we elaborate the characteristics and roles of CHWs as a specific type of lay health worker; review research on the utility of CHWs in health care generally, as well as in the area of emergency management; describe their potential for building social capital and enhancing community resilience; and provide an overview of essential training needed to prepare them to participate in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. We conclude with some suggestions for future research.

ABSTRACTThis article presents the vision, implementation, and case studies of the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS) towards the vision for next-generation decision support systems for flooding. The IFIS is an end-to-end web-based platform that incorporates various aspects of the decision-making process for flood risk management and mitigation for the State of Iowa. The IFIS provides real-time information on streams and weather conditions, incorporates advanced hydrological models for flood prediction and mapping, and several data analytics and visualization tools to support effective decision-making process. The data analytics and visualization capabilities with critical flood information in the IFIS can support flood risk management, and disaster preparedness and response efforts in Iowa. The IFIS is designed in an integrated and modular structure and serves as a prototype for a generalized decision support system for flood-related decision-making. A detailed case study is presented in the paper to demonstrate the capabilities of the system in decision-making.

The ecological model of disaster management provides a framework to guide occupational health nurses who are developing disaster management programs.This ecological model assumes that disaster planning, preparedness, response, and recovery occur at various levels of the organization. These nested, increasingly complex organizational levels include individual and family, workplace, community, state, tribal, federal, and global levels. The ecological model hypothesizes that these levels interact and these dynamic interactions determine disaster planning, preparedness, response, and recovery outcomes. In addition to the features of the hazard or disaster, it is also assumed that parallel disaster planning, preparedness, and response elements, logistical challenges, and flexibility, sustainability, and rehabilitation elements occur at each level of the ecological model. Finally, the model assumes that evaluation of response and recovery efforts should inform future planning and preparedness efforts.

Natural disasters, such as flooding, wildfire, hurricane, tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, pose challenges in preserving human life and minimizing the damages to a region. During catastrophic events, timely response of disaster relief personnel, an efficient deployment of resources in the recovery effort, and coordinated information sharing amongst different relief agencies can make a substantial difference in responding to those impacted by the disaster. Many relief activities currently utilize both ground personnel and manned airborne assets during different phases of the disaster response. Typically, multiple organizations support relief activities and this often creates logistics coordination challenges between agencies which can result in wasted time or resources. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been developing an Integrated aircraft operation system for disaster relief (D-NET), which assists collection and sharing of disaster information through the integrated operation of aircraft such as helicopters, aircraft, and satellites, for efficient and safe rescue operations by disaster relief aircraft. Due to the advancement in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technologies, public safety organizations have started incorporating small UAS (sUAS) as an asset in their disasters response activities. To address the airspace integration challenges of the influx of sUAS in the United States the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), under the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project, has been engaged in research to enable large-scale commercial applications of sUAS operating in low altitude airspace. This paper presents the integration of D-NET, which incorporate sUAS in the planning, information sharing, and operation support of disasters response activities, and UTM, which provides airspace management to enable large scale high density operations. The integration of the DNET and UTM systems enables coordination, data sharing, and airspace management to improve the timeliness of the disaster response, enable relief organization to reduce cost and overhead by using UAS assets and still maintain airspace safety during the relief activities.

In this paper, we propose an aggregate solution to boost the security, performance, and resilience of disaster-based comms networks. This involves trust-based routing, energy optimization, and more than one routing protocol to meet the unique requirements of the ever-changing and unpredictable environments facing disasters in this world. The evaluation brings 4.3 Mbps for the average throughput, 34 ms delay with a packet delivery ratio of 96.9%. Also, energy consumption was optimized and the average consumption of 2458 Joules makes sharing power resources an easy exercise even when you are in a disaster-prone zone. Security analysis of the experiments showed on average 2.7 vulnerabilities across different trials with a range from 2 to 5 in severity level. Therefore, robust security mechanisms guard against potential threats, a reminder that disaster situations can befall any person or community. Overall, disaster response performance was good despite the difficult conditions. Further research and development in this area will continue to refine and improve communication systems for disaster preparedness and response efforts.

For a long time now, Zambia has been exposed to a variety of hazards and disasters and the frequency of their occurrence and magnitude has been increasing. These disasters have had a negative impact on the economy, having caused loss of life, damage to property and degradation of the environment. Tremendous setbacks in economic growth and development have also been the main result, as scarce national resources have had to be redirected from productive investments to relief and emergency operations. This study examined disaster preparedness and management in command centers of Lusaka district in Zambia. The study addressed the following specific objectives: To examine disaster preparedness and management at DMMU command centers in Lusaka; To evaluate the effectiveness of disaster preparedness interventions in disaster areas; To establish challenges in disaster preparedness and management processes in DMMU command centers. The sample size of this study was 50 respondents who were selected from various DMMU command centres in Lusaka. This research study used both quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as surveys and focus group interviews. The key findings highlighted the strategies, protocols, procedures, and interventions implemented at command centers. The results also highlighted the challenges faced at DMMU command centers in addressing disasters effectively 24% being failure to consistently document experiences and outcomes which in turn leads to loss of valuable insights, 26% is that organizational inertia may hinder the adoption of new strategies based on past lessons, 28% being difficulty in consolidating information from different agencies which complicates the integration of lessons learned, and 22% being the absence of formal evaluation mechanisms which may prevent systematic learning from previous disasters. Despite the challenges, DMMU command centers strive to ensure the implementation of effective interventions to enhance resilience and recovery of communities from disasters. Preliminary findings suggested a significant correlation between implementation of effective interventions and the impact on resilience and recovery of communities. These findings hold crucial implications for policymakers, highlighting the importance of implementing effective interventions which enhance the impact of disaster preparedness and management efforts by command center and how they help reduce the negative impact of disasters on the community such as loss of life and property.

Assessment of U.S. helicopter emergency medical services' planning and preparedness for disaster response

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) often provide crucial services to their communities during and after disasters, but they largely operate outside of the formal structures that manage disaster preparedness and response. Their status within communities and ability to reach broad populations make them potentially powerful groups to lead and promote health and safety initiatives. Thus, there is opportunity to reduce health and knowledge disparities and increase disaster resiliency by providing disaster preparedness education through FBOs. This pilot study aims to assess and enhance the current level of disaster knowledge and preparedness of congregation members from six FBOs in the Los Angeles County South Service Planning Area (SPA 6) to promote their community's disaster resiliency. A structured basic disaster education curriculum was implemented at six FBOs, and participants completed a questionnaire, pre-test and post-test, and satisfaction survey. Frequency distributions of survey questions and mean differences of pre- and post-test scores were obtained. Results of the questionnaire indicated that more than half of the participants had previous experience with disaster preparedness and had taken some steps toward stockpiling supplies but showed gaps in making concrete evacuation plans and meeting places. The mean disaster knowledge test score increased from 5.15 for the pre-test to 8.04 for the post-test (p < 0.0001). The participants reported high satisfaction with the seminar. This pilot study demonstrated that there is interest, as well as need, within the faith-based community to increase personal and community disaster preparedness. The implementation of a structured disaster education seminar for congregation members showed significant immediate improvement in disaster knowledge of the participants.

<ns3:p>Disaster and emergency preparedness aims to increase capacity for the management of, response to, and recovery from events, both natural and anthropogenic, that disrupt human environments. Education efforts are a key component of disaster preparedness, especially in terms of educating and training the disaster healthcare workforce (DHCW). However, despite this critical role, DHCW education in general and in the medical workforce in particular is a noted gap. Simulation is an education tool marked by immersive and/or interactive activities that provide a controlled, safe environment for skills-building. Simulation-based exercises have been observed as a common educational modality for disaster preparedness and response education. A key gap, therefore, is the intersection of simulation-based exercises for disaster response education in medical education. This scoping review is being undertaken, in part, to inform the development and utilisation of disaster/emergency preparedness simulation exercises among medical students globally. The objectives are to collate and describe the methods that employ simulation as a teaching strategy for medical students and to identify models of success, challenges, and opportunities for educating medical students on this area. Undergraduate and graduate medical students will be included. Interprofessional education involving students from multiple health professions will be included if medical student-specific information can be extracted. We will include any study design (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies) describing simulation methodologies for teaching medical students concepts relevant to disaster preparedness or emergency response. Studies must be published between 2001–2025. A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, SCOPUS, ERIC, Google Scholar, and Open Access Thesis and Dissertations will be conducted. Two independent reviewers will screen titles, abstracts, and full texts; data will be extracted using a piloted charting form and analysed descriptively. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, presentations at conferences, and engagements with community interest-holders.</ns3:p>

BackgroundThe ability of disaster response, preparedness, and mitigation efforts to assess the loss of physical accessibility to health facilities and to identify impacted populations is key in reducing the humanitarian consequences of disasters. Recent studies use either network- or raster-based approaches to measure accessibility in respect to travel time. Our analysis compares a raster- and a network- based approach that both build on open data with respect to their ability to assess the loss of accessibility due to a severe flood event. As our analysis uses open access data, the approach should be transferable to other flood-prone sites to support decision-makers in the preparation of disaster mitigation and preparedness plans.MethodsOur study is based on the flood events following Cyclone Idai in Mozambique in 2019 and uses both raster- and network-based approaches to compare accessibility to health sites under normal conditions to the aftermath of the cyclone to assess the loss of accessibility. Part of the assessment is a modified centrality indicator, which identifies the specific use of the road network for the population to reach health facilities.ResultsResults for the raster- and the network-based approaches differed by about 300,000 inhabitants (~ 800,000 to ~ 500,000) losing accessibility to healthcare sites. The discrepancy was related to the incomplete mapping of road networks and affected the network-based approach to a higher degree. The modified centrality indicator allowed us to identify road segments that were most likely to suffer from flooding and to highlight potential backup roads in disaster settings.ConclusionsThe different results obtained between the raster- and network-based methods indicate the importance of data quality assessments in addition to accessibility assessments as well as the importance of fostering mapping campaigns in large parts of the Global South. Data quality is therefore a key parameter when deciding which method is best suited for local conditions. Another important aspect is the required spatial resolution of the results. Identification of critical segments of the road network provides essential information to prepare for potential disasters.

Near-Earth asteroid impacts have the potential to cause catastrophic damage, making it imperative to develop robust defense strategies to mitigate these risks. Understanding Near-Earth asteroid impact dynamics and potential effects becomes crucial for global disaster preparedness and response efforts. This study presents an impact index model designed to guide preliminary defense strategies against near-earth asteroid impacts, which pose significant threats to humanity. The model is informed by numerical simulations and engineering calculations, providing a high-fidelity analysis suitable for fine-grained assessment of impact effects. This paper adopts principal component analysis and factor analysis to optimize the impact index model, catering to asteroids with incomplete observational data. The research investigates the effects of asteroid disintegration, explosion, and tsunami, enhancing the formulation of defense policies and deepening the understanding of impact effects. The study’s results indicate that the proposed model can effectively assist in preemptive strategic planning to mitigate potential disaster losses.

Indonesia, as part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, is highly susceptible to various natural hazard events including geological and hydrometeorological disasters. This study aims to classify Indonesian provinces based on their disaster vulnerability using the K-Means clustering algorithm. The clustering process considers area and population data to ensure accurate grouping. The results of the study successfully categorized Indonesian provinces into distinct clusters based on their disaster vulnerability levels. These clusters provide valuable insights for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and local governments in prioritizing disaster preparedness and response efforts. By identifying regions with higher vulnerability, this research contributes to the development of more targeted and effective disaster mitigation strategies, ultimately helping to reduce potential loss of life and property.