The higher likelihood of a chemical or biological terrorist attack makes such incidents the focus
of many education and training exercises. Preparing for a Fukushima-like nuclear incident, whether
accidental or deliberate, must be addressed by educating the public, understanding how to best detect
radioactive material, and protecting the population before an actual threat emerges.
Preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters as well as everyday events are important steps in the process of emergency management. Resilience as an important component of emergency management is a fairly new concept, but successful resilience depends on leaders who can modify that concept to fit their own organizations’ needs to effectively reduce future response and recovery times.
“Everybody who goes to war gets shot,” one soldier says. “Some in the body. Some in the head. Some
in the heart.” The National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics (NCVAS) estimates that, as of 30
September 2011, the nation’s veteran population is more than 22.2 million. Although the journey home for
each soldier, airman, and medical caregiver is different, “Centerline” depicts the individual, yet
common, story of many of them.
There is no room for error during a radiological event. For that reason, information must be
readily available and as accurate as possible. Listen to subject matter experts from the Association of
State and Territorial Health Officials, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they
discuss the types of resources available and how communities are working together to provide the best
programs for dealing with radiological hazards.
The new education must teach the individual how to classify and reclassify information, how to evaluate its veracity, how to change categories when necessary, how to move from the concrete […]
Whether deciding to close local schools or to change treatment and testing guidelines at a national
level, public health decisions for influenza pandemics are dependent on laboratory results. By
developing assays, holding training sessions, developing and utilizing laboratory capacity models,
building intra-state communication systems, and introducing other initiatives, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) are helping to
build and maintain a “warm base” for effective laboratory response.
This report focuses on first responder training for hazmat and CBRN (chemical, biological,
radiological, nuclear) incidents. Even in an environment of limited funding, there are solutions that
can be explored to coordinate response, train team members, and prepare emergency responders for the
next hazmat or CBRN event.
In 2011, the world witnessed the devastating effects after Mother Nature triggered an accidental “nuclear attack” on Japan. That incident offers a glimpse of what could happen following a deliberate nuclear attack on U.S. soil. On 2 May 2012, Vayl Oxford led a distinguished panel of experts in New York to discuss a very real threat that faces the nation. View results from the latest DomPrep survey and the final report that spurred this discussion as well as ongoing dialogue among attendees.
Most medium-sized or larger U.S. hospitals can handle multi-casualty incidents efficiently and effectively under normal circumstances. However, during major incidents such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or terrorist attacks, those same hospitals often require additional resources. Through interagency cooperation, new standards of care have been published to help better prepare for future crisis response situations.
Many businessmen, and homeowners, would quickly buy and read a comprehensive report on how to
prevent burglaries. Many burglars would buy and read the same book, but for different reasons. Those who
carry out important scientific research face a similar dilemma: They want to help educate their peers,
but do not want their findings to become available to those – terrorists, for example – who would use
the information in ways that would harm others.
The higher likelihood of a chemical or biological terrorist attack makes such incidents the focus
of many education and training exercises. Preparing for a Fukushima-like nuclear incident, whether
accidental or deliberate, must be addressed by educating the public, understanding how to best detect
radioactive material, and protecting the population before an actual threat emerges. 