Dreaming of a Bright Future: Statistics, Disaster, and the Birth of Energopolitics in 1930s Chile.

In 1939, directly after the worst earthquake in the country's history, the Chilean state began implementing an electrification program. This plan shaped energy goals for years to come and defined the interconnected grid that dominates the country's energy infrastructure today. Based on extensive archival work, this article describes the birth of energopolitics in the country, using technology sociologist Michel Callon's notion of "interessement" to describe the strategies of a group of engineers who acted as system builders. Their four main strategies were embracing technological futurisms, forging heterogeneous networks, articulating and mobilizing knowledge, and using crises as windows of opportunity for change. The article shows not only the historical impact of past energy choices on today's world but also that current challenges to energy transitions are not without precedent. Using a sociological framework to tell this story allows us to highlight the mechanisms through which energy systems can change.

Enfermedades y terremotos en la Granada del siglo XVIII / Diseases and earthquakes in eighteenth-century Granada

El terremoto de Lisboa de 1755 generó una considerable destrucción en numerosas villas y ciudades de la Península Ibérica. La sociedad se vio conmocionada por el desastre; era necesario comprender el fenómeno para intentar evitar, en la medida de lo posible, futuras destrucciones y actuar con agilidad para promover una pronta recuperación. En este sentido, vinculado con el debate sobre la formación de la Tierra tal y como se conocía en el momento, se desarrollaron numerosas teorías sobre la causa del fenómeno. Desde las posiciones religiosas se conminaba al arrepentimiento, mientras que una protociencia geoló-gica defendía el origen natural del terremoto y, por ende, concluía que era difícil de evitar. No obstante, pese a las disensiones en la comprensión de los seísmos se daba un cierto consenso sobre sus efectos. La destrucción física era más que evidente, pero estos daños urbanísticos parecían estar acompañados por numerosas enfermedades surgidas a raíz del terremoto y documentadas por los diversos poderes locales. Parto así de la obra del cirujano de Uxíjar, Joseph Aparicio Morata, para analizar las diversas formas en las que la medicina del siglo XVIII comprendió los daños que estos fenómenos generaban sobre la naturaleza humana. El mie-do desatado por el desastre podía alterar de tal forma las sustancias humanas que entre sus resultas los abortos, melancolías y delirios eran de esperar. Cuando la tierra se abría surgían de ella numerosos gases tóxicos que, una vez en la superficie, se disipaban e infectaban a las comunidades vecinas. Los efluvios liberados conectaban a su vez con fenómenos astrológicos por su carácter aéreo (AU)

Revitalizing Graduate Medical Education in Global Settings: Lessons From Post-Earthquake Haiti.

Following the massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated much of the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, the Haitian health system and its medical education programs were fragmented, fragile, and facing a significant, overwhelming demand for clinical care. In response, the authors of this paper and the institutions they represent supported the development of a teaching hospital that could fill the void in academic training capacity while prioritizing the health of Haiti's rural poor-goals aligned with the Haitian Ministry of Health (MOH) strategy. This bold initiative aimed to address both the immediate and long-term health care needs within post-disaster Haiti through a strategic investment in graduate medical education (GME). Here, the authors describe their approach, which included building consensus, aspiring to international standards, and investing in shared governance structures under Haitian leadership. The Haitian MOH strategy and priorities guided the development, implementation, and expansion of solutions to the ongoing crisis in human resources for health within the acute context. Local leadership of this initiative ensured a sustained and transformative model of GME that has carried Haiti beyond acute relief and toward a more reliable health system. The enduring success can be measured through sustained governance systems, graduates who have remained in Haiti, standardized curricula, a culture of continuous improvement, and the historic achievement of international accreditation. While ongoing challenges persist, Haiti has demonstrated that the strategy of investing in GME in response to acute disasters should be considered in other global settings to support the revitalization of tenuous health systems.

Earthquake damage as a catalyst to abandonment of a Middle Bronze Age settlement: Tel Kabri, Israel.

For years there has been much speculation surrounding the abandonment of the Middle Bronze Age IIB palace of Tel Kabri, ca. 1700 BCE. There are no weapons, hoards of money and jewelry, or visible evidence for fire, which rules out hostile attack or conquest. There are also no indications of drought or environmental degradation that might have forced the inhabitants to vacate the site, nor mass graveyards to indicate a pandemic. The current study uses micro-geoarchaeological methods to show that the demise of the palace was rapid, with walls and ceilings collapsing at once prior to abandonment. Macroscopic data (stratigraphic and structural) from five excavation seasons were reexamined, showing that at least nine Potential Earthquake Archaeological Effects (PEAEs) are found and associated with the last occupation phase of the site's palace. All lines of evidence point to the possibility that an earthquake damaged the palace, possibly to a point where it was no longer economically viable to repair. This conclusion is compounded by the discovery of a 1-3 m wide trench that cuts through the palace for 30 m, which may be the result of ground shaking or liquefaction caused by an earthquake. This study shows the importance of combining macro- and micro-archaeological methods for the identification of ancient earthquakes, together with the need to evaluate alternative scenarios of climatic, environmental, and economic collapse, as well as human-induced destruction before a seismic event scenario can be proposed.

[The earthquake of 1746 and its impact on health in the city of Lima]. / El terremoto de 1746 y su impacto en la salud en la ciudad de Lima.

During the 18th century, the city of Lima was affected by a series of natural disasters and epidemics that depleted both the population and agricultural production. Next, we will analyze the case of the earth quake in Lima on October 28, 1746 and its impact on the city's health system, given the magnitude of the destruction of infrastructure and the high number of deaths it marked a milestone in Lima's society at the time.

Durante el siglo XVIII la ciudad de Lima fue afectada por una serie de desastres de origen natural y de epidemias que mermaron tanto la población como la producción agrícola. A continuación, analizaremos el caso del terremoto producido en Lima el 28 de octubre de 1746 y su impacto en el sistema de salud de la ciudad. Dada la magnitud de su destrucción en la infraestructura y el alto número de muertes, marcó un hito en la sociedad limeña de la época.

El terremoto de 1746 y su impacto en la salud en la ciudad de Lima / The earthquake of 1746 and its impact on health in the city of Lima

RESUMEN Durante el siglo XVIII la ciudad de Lima fue afectada por una serie de desastres de origen natural y de epidemias que mermaron tanto la población como la producción agrícola. A continuación, analizaremos el caso del terremoto producido en Lima el 28 de octubre de 1746 y su impacto en el sistema de salud de la ciudad. Dada la magnitud de su destrucción en la infraestructura y el alto número de muertes, marcó un hito en la sociedad limeña de la época.

ABSTRACT During the 18th century, the city of Lima was affected by a series of natural disasters and epidemics that depleted both the population and agricultural production. Next, we will analyze the case of the earth quake in Lima on October 28, 1746 and its impact on the city's health system, given the magnitude of the destruction of infrastructure and the high number of deaths it marked a milestone in Lima's society at the time.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms in people exposed to the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico.

This is the first study to produce a reliable valid measure of the symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) in Mexico, which has a high incidence of disasters, and has not had a measurement of PTSD frequency in the population. The objective was to analyze the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in persons who experienced the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico. A probabilistic sample of 1539 participants from Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Chiapas, Puebla, Morelos and Oaxaca during November and December of 2017 was screened using the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) for symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The prevalence of PTSD symptoms was 34.6%, with greater effects on the inhabitants of Oaxaca, Morelos and Puebla, women, indigenous people and people who experienced damage to their homes (p = 0.001). The DTS had a moderate negative correlation with the RS-14 and a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.957. The confirmatory factor analysis generated four factors that explain 50% of the variance, compatible with a Dysphoria model. We can conclude that one in three people exposed to earthquakes had symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

La prensa y la participación social frente a los desastres: desde el sismo de Oaxaca de 1787 al sismo de Tehuantepec de 2017 / A Imprensa E A Participação Social Diante Dos Desastres: Do Terremoto De Oaxaca De 1787 Ao Terremoto De Tehuantepec Em 2017 / The Press And Social Participation In The Face Of Disasters: From The Oaxaca Earthquake Of 1787 To The Tehuantepec Earthquake Of 2017

A través de su historia, México se ha caracterizado por ser un país vulnerable a la ocurrencia de diversos eventos de origen meteorológico y geofísico debido a su ubicación geográfica.

The press and social participation in the face of disasters: from the Oaxaca earthquake of 1787 to the Tehuantepec earthquake of 2017.

A imprensa e a participação social diante dos desastres: do terremoto de Oaxaca de 1787 ao terremoto de Tehuantepec em 2017.

Nutritional resilience in Nepal following the earthquake of 2015.

BACKGROUND: The 2015 earthquake in Nepal caused massive damages and triggered relief activities to minimize human suffering. The post-earthquake nutrition and food security situation in the hardest hit areas remains uncertain. METHODS: Two national cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2014 and 2016 among households (HH) with pre-school aged children or newly married women. Of the 21 village development committees (VDCs) included in this sample, 7 fell within "earthquake-affected" areas. This paper presents data from 982 HH, 1015 women, and 883 children from 2014 and 1056 HH, 1083 women, and 998 children from 2016 living in these areas, with longitudinal overlap of about 55%. Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated, and logistic regression was used to calculate p-values, both using robust estimates of standard errors to account for clustering. RESULTS: From 2014 to 2016, child wasting (weight-for-height z score <-2) fell from 4.5% (95% CI 3.3%- 6.1%) to 2.1% (1.4%- 3.1%) and food insecurity (assessed using the household food insecurity access scale) dropped from 17.6% (11.7%- 25.6%) to 12.4% (6.9%- 21.2%). Child stunting prevalence remained similar at both time-points. Improvements were also evident in dietary diversity and breastfeeding indicators. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition and food security conditions remained comparable or improved one year after the earthquake despite evidence of structural and other damage. Livelihood resilience to shocks and/or effective nutrition, food or health interventions may have helped buffer the impact on nutrition, although this hypothesis requires further exploration.

The Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes and the Black Death of 1498: a poetic description of the plague.

The study is a presentation of the sole written testimony of the great plague epidemic that struck the island of Rhodes in 1498, at the time when the Order of the Knights of St. John was settled there. The Greek poem "The Thanatikon (i.e., plague) of Rhodes", which was written by Emmanuel Georgillas Limenitis in the late 15th century and recounts the terrible events of the epidemic, was used as a source of information. Among the 644 verses of the poem, elements like the place, time, duration and how the epidemic spread can be identified. Within the historical context of the era, evaluation and analysis of the data reveal the correlation between human activities and the physical history of the disease in the Mediterranean during the 15th century. The Plague of Rhodes confirms the value of non-medical sources in the medico-historical and historico-epidemiological study of the evolution of the disease caused by Yersinia pestis while highlighting an enduring intrinsic weakness of surveillance systems. Despite modern means of epidemiological surveillance, the risk of relaxation of a health system after a long period of absence of an infectious disease constitutes a major factor for future resurgence of the specific disease.

The prevalence of mental distress before the Great East Japan Earthquake and the associated impact of an aged society: An ecological study.

Various studies have determined that the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) caused mental distress among residents in affected areas. However, previous studies had not considered the prevalence of mental distress before the GEJE, and ignored the impact of an aged society on mental distress. Therefore, we aimed to describe the prevalence of mental distress before the GEJE in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan and elucidate the effect of an aged society on mental distress. We conducted an ecological study, using municipality in Miyagi Prefecture as the study unit. We used the cross-sectional mail survey data conducted in February 2011. We performed a correlation analysis in each of the 39 municipalities in Miyagi Prefecture. The prevalence of serious mental distress was 9.1%. The proportion of the population aged 65 years or older was related to the prevalence of serious mental distress in municipalities with a low proportion of all workers engaged in primary industry and with a high estimated number of inpatients with mental illness. We found that residents in Miyagi Prefecture suffered from poor mental health before the GEJE. Aged society was related to serious mental distress in the areas with advanced industrial structure and more patients with mental illness. We should approach mental health problems in the context of social structure, particularly in an aged society, based on facts about mental distress before the GEJE.

The origin of the recent (2012-2016) seismic activity in the Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, area: A block boundary interaction?

The central part of Jalisco, Mexico, has experienced low-magnitude earthquake sequences and swarms. Although the effects of these earthquakes have been limited to relatively small areas, the earthquakes have caused general alarm among the population and, in some cases, have been catastrophic. These earthquake swarms are significant because they affect the most populous area of the state, including the capital city of Guadalajara. An extraordinary example is an earthquake swarm that started on 8 May 1912 and lasted until September of that year. The region remained seismically quiescent until May 2012, when seismic activity resumed, lasting to the present. We analyze the recent seismic activity, starting with the earthquake of 18 May 2012 (03:07 UT) at the western edge of Lake Chapala and ending with the magnitude 4.2 earthquake on 3 November 2016. Our analysis includes eight earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.5 and 4.8, the revision of hypocenter locations, and the determination of focal mechanism solutions using the inversion of the moment tensor method. When possible, inversion solutions are compared with solutions obtained with the first arrival polarity method. We compare our results for the recent seismicity with the distribution of reported damage associated with historical earthquakes. Our work indicates a N-S trending seismic source zone and an orientation of nodal planes that suggests reactivation of preexisting local faults induced by the interaction of the western border of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt with the eastern border of the Jalisco Block.

The social construction of disasters in the United States: A historical and cultural phenomenon.

INTRODUCTION: Societal risks from hazards are continually increasing. Each year, disasters cause thousands of deaths and cost billions of dollars. In the first half of 2011, the United States endured countless disasters-winter snowstorms in the Midwest and Northeast; severe tornadic weather in the Mississippi, Alabama, and Missouri; flash flooding in Nashville; flooding along the Mississippi River; an earthquake on the East Coast, wildfires in Texas, and Hurricane Irene. Fundamental disaster planning is regarded as an interdisciplinary approach to develop strategies and instituting policies concerned with phases of emergency management; as such, its needs are predicated on the identification of hazards and assessment of risks. PROBLEM: Even if the probability or intensity of risks to disasters remains fairly constant, population growth, alongside economic and infrastructural development, will unavoidably result in a concomitant increase of places prone to such events. One of the greatest barriers to emergency management efforts is the failure to fully grasp the socially and politically constructed meaning of disasters. PURPOSE: This article investigates the ways in which language has been used historically in the American lexicon to make sense of disasters in the United States in an effort to improve communal resiliency. Serving as both an idea and experience, the terminology used to convey our/the modern-day concept of disaster is a result of a cultural artifact, ie, a given time and specific place. METHODOLOGY: Tools such as Google Ngram Viewer and CASOS AutoMap are used to explore the penetration, duration, and change in disaster terminology among American English literature for more than 200 years, from 1800 to 2008, by quantifying written culture. FINDINGS: The language of disasters is an integral part of disaster response, as talking is the primary way that most people respond to and recover from disasters. The vast majority of people are not affected by any given disaster, and so it is through discussing a disaster that people make sense of it, respond, and react to it, and fit something that is overwhelming and beyond human control into the normal order of life.

Effects of socioeconomic factors on cardiovascular-related symptoms among residents in Fukushima after the Great East Japan Earthquake: a cross-sectional study using data from the Fukushima Health Management Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between socioeconomic factors and the exacerbation of cardiovascular symptoms among evacuees after the Great East Japan Earthquake. METHODS: A sample of 73 433 individuals was included in the Fukushima Health Management Survey. Self-report questionnaires were used to determine the influence of socioeconomic factors including living arrangements, loss of employment and decreased income on the exacerbation of headache, dizziness, palpitations and shortness of breath. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs of the effect of socioeconomic factors were estimated for each symptom using multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Exacerbation of headaches was reported by 1893 individuals, dizziness by 1229, palpitations by 1085 and shortness of breath by 626 individuals. Evacuation accommodation was associated with all of these symptoms. Compared with participants living in their own home (OR=1.00), individuals living in relatives' homes had increased probability of experiencing exacerbation of headache (1.58; 95% CI 1.19 to 2.09) and dizziness (1.42; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.98); those living in rental housing or apartments experienced exacerbation of headache (1.54; 95% CI 1.32 to 1.80), dizziness (1.45; 95% CI 1.20 to 1.75), palpitations (1.25; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.51) and shortness of breath (1.76; 95% CI 1.35 to 2.28); participants living in evacuation shelters experienced exacerbation of headache (1.80; 95% CI 1.09 to 2.96); and refugees living in temporary housing also experienced exacerbation of headache (1.42; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.72), dizziness (1.40; 95% CI 1.09 to 1.79) and shortness of breath (1.49; 95% CI 1.07 to 2.08). Compared with the evacuees who retained their jobs, unemployed individuals showed increased probability of exacerbation of headache (1.28, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.46), dizziness (1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.48) and palpitations (1.21, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.45). Decreased income was associated with exacerbation of headache (1.39, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.60). CONCLUSION: After the earthquake, living in non-home conditions was more likely to result in exacerbated cardiovascular symptoms among evacuees. Loss of employment was another risk factor related to exacerbated headache and dizziness.

Maximum Time-to-Rescue After the 1908 Messina-Reggio Calabria Earthquake was 20 Days: Hints for Disaster Planning?

Introduction Maximum time-to-rescue has been studied accurately for many earthquakes in the years 1985-2004. No study is available for historical quakes. Hypothesis/Problem This study aimed to evaluate long-term survivors (from the fifth day after the quake) of the Messina-Reggio Calabria earthquake (1908; Italy), which is considered, historically, to be the worst seismic event in Europe. METHODS: Accurate readings of 11 national newspapers from the fifth day after the quake looking for rescued persons and transferring, to an ad hoc form, all data relating to each rescued person. RESULTS: The maximum time-to rescue was 20 days. There were 225 survivors, among them 51 children (22.6 %). For 23 out 225 rescued persons, there was evidence of availability of foods and drinkable fluids while under the rubble. CONCLUSION: The maximum time-to-rescue under the debris following this historical earthquake far exceeds that of all other quakes that occurred in the years 1985-2004. The long survival under debris was probably due to the lack of an order to stop search and rescue. Recent strategies reducing the time for search and rescue carry the risk of missing survivors. De Santo NG , Bisaccia C , De Santo LS . Maximum time-to-rescue after the 1908 Messina-Reggio Calabria Earthquake was 20 days: hints for disaster planning? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(3):249-252.

Diverse rupture processes in the 2015 Peru deep earthquake doublet.

Earthquakes in deeply subducted oceanic lithosphere can involve either brittle or dissipative ruptures. On 24 November 2015, two deep (606 and 622 km) magnitude 7.5 and 7.6 earthquakes occurred 316 s and 55 km apart. The first event (E1) was a brittle rupture with a sequence of comparable-size subevents extending unilaterally ~50 km southward with a rupture speed of ~4.5 km/s. This earthquake triggered several aftershocks to the north along with the other major event (E2), which had 40% larger seismic moment and the same duration (~20 s), but much smaller rupture area and lower rupture speed than E1, indicating a more dissipative rupture. A minor energy release ~12 s after E1 near the E2 hypocenter, possibly initiated by the S wave from E1, and a clear aftershock ~165 s after E1 also near the E2 hypocenter, suggest that E2 was likely dynamically triggered. Differences in deep earthquake rupture behavior are commonly attributed to variations in thermal state between subduction zones. However, the marked difference in rupture behavior of the nearby Peru doublet events suggests that local variations of stress state and material properties significantly contribute to diverse behavior of deep earthquakes.

Economic Effects of 1978 Tabas Earthquake (Iran).

BACKGROUND: Natural disasters are one of the most important adverse health events. The earthquake that happened in the city of Tabas in 1978 was ranked third in terms of number of deaths caused by natural disasters over the past 100 years in Iran. This study was aimed to evaluate the economic and human capital consequences of earthquake in Tabas district. METHODS: We used a two percent random sample of Iran Census Dataset from 2006 to run a difference-in-difference study. The difference-in-difference methodology was used to evaluate (1) the mean changes in variables including years of schooling and wealth; (2) the odds changes in primary school completion and literacy of people born (5 or 10 years) post-event versus (5 or 10 years) pre-event in Tabas compared with the same values for those born in the same period of time in the control districts. RESULTS: Differential increase in years of schooling for being born 10 years after the earthquake versus in 10 years before earthquake in Tabas was one-third of a school year less than in the control districts. There were 89.5% and 65.4% decrease in odds that an individual is literate, and 0.26 and 0.104 average decrease in the SES index for those born in Tabas in periods of 5 and 10 years, respectively, compared with control districts. CONCLUSION: Tabas earthquake had negative long-term effects on human capital and wealth. This study can help official authorities to promote educational and economic plans and to implement comprehensive reforms in earthquake-stricken areas.