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M14.4 Blog: - Disaster Preparedness

  1. As we begin to think about being active and prepared, explore the website for The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (Links to an external site.) and the links that are specific to your region or area of interest to learn more about health (physical and psychosocial) and environmental impacts or preparedness needs for these disaster precipitators.
  2. In California we have the Disaster Healthcare Volunteers Site (Links to an external site.), where healthcare professionals and those with healthcare experience can express a desire to be a volunteer should a disaster happen. Is there something similar in your town, city, county?
I visited the website for the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health and I was surprised to learn that there are over one million earthquakes that occur yearly worldwide. I read specifically about earthquakes because they are such a threat where we live here in the Bay Area and because I have feared earthquakes more than other natural disasters since I was young. I am not sure why, but I have always felt like they are the most difficult to prepare for and have thus always feared them more than other natural disasters. The website provided a lot of resources about what to do to prepare for a resource and also all of the issues in the aftermath of an earthquake. I had never thought about all of the waste that is produced due to an earthquake. I used the FEMA earthquake safety checklist to begin preparing myself and my apartment in the event of an earthquake. I am definitely going to make an earthquake preparedness backpack after reading all the resources on this site. 

Alameda County does have a website dedicated to providing people with healthcare experience opportunities to volunteer in the event of a disaster. Here is the website: http://ems.acgov.org/DisasterPrepResponse/WaysYouCanHelp.page? 

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