Rapid assessment of health needs in mass emergencies : Review of current concepts and methods

The increase in the number of natural disasters and their impact on population is growing concern to countries at risk and agencies involved in health and humanitarian action. The numbers of persons killed or disabled as a result of earthquake, cyclones, floods and famines have reached record levels in the last decade. Population density, rampant urbanization and climatic changes have brought about risk patterns that are exposing larger and larger sections of populations in developing countries to life-threatening natural disasters. Despite substancial spending on emergency relief, the approaches to relief remain largerly ad hoc and amateurish, resulting generally in inappropriate and/or delayed action. In recent years, mass emergencies of the kind experienced in Bangladesh or the Sahelian countries have highlighted the importance of rapid assessment of health needs for better allocation of resources and relief manangement. As a result, The development of techniques for rapid assessment of health needs has been identified as a priority for effective emergency action (AU)

Reducing the impact of natural disasters : Why aren't we better prepared?

Natural disasters can be clasified into four main types: floods, earthquakes, cyclones and droughts. This paper compares these types of natural disaster in terms of four characteristics: predictabiblity, scope, onset delay and lethality. Special attention is paid to the last of these characteristics. It is found that the mortality and morbidity associated with natural disasters has changed over time and varies between regions. The variation between regions correlates with differences in socio-economic conditions, the impact of a disaster in a poor area being much greater than the impact of a disaster of similar physical characteristics in a richer area; it appears that the impact of a disaster is as much a function of the local conditions as it is of the nature of the disaster itself. The paper then goes on to consider the nature of the emergency aid that is offered following emergencies. It concludes that it is often wasteful and inappropriate, coming too late into a situation in which conditions have already dictated that mortality and morbidity will be high. Suggestions are made of ways in which funds allocated to disaster relief could be better focused so as to reduce population vulnerability in the face of natural disasters(AU)