Flooding lessons learned from disaster management

Flooding Lessons Learned

One of the more serious natural disasters that affected the United States in recent years was that of Hurricane Katrina, a 2005 disaster that had over a $100 billion effect on the U.S. Economy, interruption of the Gulf oil supply, ruin of exports and forestry, thousands unemployed or displaced, and a huge impact on tourism in the Gulf States (Reidy, 2005, Cooper, 2007). Katrina was a call to action for the system of crisis management, whether public or private, and changed the approach to natural disasters; hopefully allowing for firm and structured plans and a robust communication and cooperation paradigm.

Emergency Prescription Assistance Program

EPAP is designed to assist individuals in Federal -- identified disaster areas who are in need of prescription medication. Pharmacies are part of society's infrastructure in public health and healthcare, and after a disaster, many are closed, destroyed, or unavailable. In addition, the distribution system to delivery drugs to individuals is usually compromised. As part of the Robert T. / Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, EPAP activities provide essential assistance to support state, regional, and local jurisdictions in getting both Durable Medical Equipment and at least a 30-day supply of medication to treat an acute condition or to replace maintenance programs that were affected by disaster (Emergency Prescription, 2012).

Benefits -- the benefits to the program are many. The program will allow life-saving drugs to be delivered even if local hospitals and pharmacies are shut down, as well as delivering new medications or equipment for those severely affected by the disaster. The program is set up so that there is no cost to individuals for this service, and the service will network into other pharmacies in other areas (for those evacuated) so that they, too, can continue with their needed medications.

Barrier to Effectiveness- as of October, 2012, no Presidential Emergency Declaration or Major Disaster Declaration has been issued and EPAP remains inactive (Emergency). Therefore, the barrier to effectiveness is approval for funding and ensuring that the infrastructure will support the program.

State Social Media Sites

Forty million people use social media on a daily basis and according to experts, including medical experts writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, "Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare may be an important key to improving the public health system's ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters" (Social Media, 2011).

Benefits -- Social media is a cost-effective and very powerful tool that will allow an easy two way exchange between public health professionals and the public in the event of a disaster. Since people often use their mobile device to hook up to social media, they would have access to information almost immediately, be up-to-date about the disaster or disease and even sent pictures and help governmental officials assess the situation in a more reasonable manner.