Haiti Earthquake After examining the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake of Jan 2010, it is quite obvious that the impact of this natural disaster will be felt for many years to come and much healing and growth will be needed in the near future in order to bring the people of this country to a decent standard of living. This report will document the many public health challenges that were evident after the earthquake and will provide guidance on how future natural disasters' impacts may be mitigated by wise and prudent action. This after action review of the response will highlight the successes and failures of the efforts provided and make suggestions on how those processes may be improved upon.

Initial Observations

Before anyone may help anyone in such a damaging situation as a major earthquake, an acceptable amount of peace and security must be established or nothing may be accomplished. The sense of chaos, death and despair creates a panicked atmosphere where little may be done to affect the necessary medical treatment that is necessary to save lives and bring peace.

Haiti was quite chaotic as I stumbled through the rubble. A deep sense of lawlessness and fear permeated the destroyed landscape which hampered any type of humanitarian efforts. Information was scarce and there was little communication between the many nongovernmental organizations, military units, domestic police and various other invaders of the nation who had come...

In these areas near the capital city of Port Au Prince, the response was quite disorganized. A clear lack of response plan seemed evident as there was little consistency between information discussed amongst people. Rumors and lies soon replaced facts as the scene in these collection of triage areas operated in a fog of confusion and disorder.
After some days elapsed order was slowly being restored and a more objective realization of the public health efforts could be monitored. It turned out that the Haitian government reported that 222,570 people had died; over 300,000 had been injured while 1.3 million were displaced.

Establishing Standards

The most glaring idea that seemed to contribute to the failed efforts of rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts in Haiti 2010 was a lack of leadership and shared vision. The massive earthquake may not have been predicted, but a complete lack of response may be more to blame for loss of life than the earthquake itself.

Understanding the importance of a strategic plan requires the public health official to organize his ideas into a useful and practical sequence of action. To help guide this intent 4 minimum standards should be observed and promoted. The following priorities of work are helpful in setting up this strategic approach:

1. Establish…