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Disaster Readiness Simulator

We are developing a Disaster Readiness Simulator that offers a revolutionary approach to preparing for the reality of concurrent disasters. The simulator enables organizations to accurately test and understand their emergency response capabiliti...

Environmental Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capability Framework

In 2022, we established a Community of Practice (CoP) to guide the development and review of environmental public health disaster readiness resources. With the support of the CoP, we began the process of developing a list of core capabilities an...

Concurrent Disaster Response Success Story

This success story describes how the Environmental Division of the Town of Addison, Texas faced the challenges of a winter storm during COVID-19 in the context of ensuring food safety, public health, and providing warming stations and power to a...

December 2021

Journal of Environmental Health Volume 84, Number 5 View the IssueAbout the Cover Environmental health is historically an overlooked and underrated discipline. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the value of environmental health and environmental...

Declaration on COVID-19 Vaccination, January 2021

Publication Date: January 2021One of the foremost methods to promote public health and wellness are vaccines. We encourage our members and the entire environmental health community to get vaccinated for COVID-19 at the first opportunity and to a...

Declaration on National Preparedness Month, September 2020

Publication Date: September 2020We support National Preparedness Month and advocate for national, state, and local policies, regulations, research, and resources that enhance the ability of environmental health professionals to contribute to and...

Flooding Preparedness Resources for Private Water Systems

These resources are meant to assist private well and septic system users before, during, and after a hurricane or mass flooding disaster.Drinking WaterU.S. EPA: Emergency Disinfection of Drinking WaterCDC: Download FAQs on When and How to Boil W...

July/August 2021

Journal of Environmental Health Volume 84, Number 1 View the IssueAbout the CoverExposure to elevated carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations can cause an array of health problems or even death. Of increasing concern are CO-related poisonings and fa...

June 2021

Journal of Environmental Health Volume 83, Number 10 View the IssueAbout the CoverEven as we continue to deal with the current COVID-19 pandemic, we need to prepare for future pandemics. The purpose of the special report featured on this issue’s...

November 2021

Journal of Environmental Health Volume 84, Number 4 View the IssueAbout the CoverThroughout the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental health professionals have worked tirelessly to promote the health and well-being of their communities. The National ...

Emergency & Disaster Readiness

Environmental public health is an essential component of disaster readiness. We partner with state, tribal, local, territorial, and national environmental public health organizations to identify needs and develop tools to assist you in prepa...

Preparedness Committee

Thank you to all who applied to join the committee.The term is 2 years: October 2023 - September 2025. Time commitment is 1-hour meetings per month plus subcommittee work (approx. additional potential 1 hour a month).MissionTo serve as a resourc...

Preparedness Go-Bag

Date posted: August 25, 2021Blog poster: NEHA's Preparedness CommitteeWell, it is that time of year again. The ocean waters are hotter, and hurricanes are starting to form, with the 2021 season already at five named storms as of mid-July. The we...

Public Health Authorities in the Time of COVID-19

Date posted: Monday, August 3, 2020Blog poster: Doug Farquhar, JDNEHA received a question from a long-time member regarding the legal authorities to manage COVID-19. What are these authorities based on? How long do they last? What measures can b...

Guidance for General Population Disaster Shelters COVID-19

This resource assesses best practices for the general population to use during emergency shelters during COVID-19 pandemic and contains:Opening disaster sheltersShelter prioritizationShelter health staffRecommended for local officials to underst...

A Community Case Study on Geographic, Environmental, and Social Health Disparities in COVID-19 Disease

This article examines the socioeconomic, geographic, and environmental vulnerabilities within a rural area. The article reviews that rural areas are particularly susceptible to the continuum of expected COVID-19 disease and related outcomes. Rur...

A Multi-Hazards Earth Science Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Potential for Concurrent and Cascading Crises

This article explores an epidemic model with a concurrent disaster event, which predicts a greater infection rate following the events during the pre-infection rate peaks period compared with post peak events. This highlights the need for enacti...

A Rapid Assessment of Disaster Preparedness Needs and Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article provides a rapid qualitative assessment method to determine the impact of the pandemic on preparedness and response to natural disasters and the impact of past experiences with natural disasters in responding to the pandemic. This a...

An Eye on COVID: Hurricane Preparedness at a COVID-19 Alternative Care Site

This article shares the process of establishing a Medical Monitoring Station (MMS) in downtown New Orleans to maximize patient safety and continuity of operations during a real-world event. In 2020, the state of Louisiana activated the MMS that ...

Bottom-Up Citizen Engagement for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management

This article describes how there is a need to advance bottom-up engagement in health disaster and emergency management programs, policies and research. The article also highlights that all disasters and health emergencies start at the local leve...

Cascading Risks of COVID-19 Resurgence During an Active 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season

This article reviews risks of hurricanes to coastal states during the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Protecting the population from hurricane hazards revolves around evacuation and sheltering individuals. However, e...

Challenges for the Disaster Workforce During a Compound Hurricane-Pandemic

This article identifies how emergency management planning for both the changing dynamics of COVID-19 and hurricane season may change under a compound threat. COVID-19 and the increase of natural disasters occurring pushes new considerations to b...

Changing Vulnerability for Hurricane Evacuation During a Pandemic

This article examines data from workshops involving emergency management and public health experts to support planning for hurricane evacuation and sheltering. This resource includes: Policy integration findings Expanded protections for popula...

Responding to Simultaneous Crises: Communications and Social Norms of Mask Behavior During Wildfires and COVID-19

This article looks into the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for co-occurring wildfires and the health risks that they pose. While there are behaviors that can be implemented to reduce the negative impacts, government agencies and public heal...

Compound Risks of Hurricane Evacuation Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

This article models how a hurricane evacuation from four different counties in a state would impact COVID-19 case levels. The number of COVID-19 cases produced by the evacuation is influenced by the ability of destination counties meeting the ne...

COVID-19 Best Practice Information: Natural Hazards Preparedness

This FEMA resource shares recommendations and best practices for state, local, tribal, and territorial officials when managing simultaneous risks posed by COVID-19 and natural hazards. This resource includes key considerations around:Public mess...

COVID-19 Crisis Communications: The Challenge for Environmental Organizations

This article examines the ways environmental organizations amended their crisis communications to underscore their relevance to crises and their role in problem-solving. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. environmental organizations...

COVID-19 Working Groups for Public Health and Social Sciences Research

This webpage shares the resource list of the Natural Hazard’s Center COVID-19 Working Groups for Public Health and Social Sciences. The working groups focus on a variety of issues and advancements in methods, ethics, and empirical topics related...

COVID-19, the Built Environment, and Health

This article discusses features of the built environment that affect the risk of COVID-19 and identify elements of the pandemic response with implications for the built environment and for long-term public health. This resource includes: Influe...

Data-Driven Operation of the Resilient Electric Grid: A Case of COVID-19

This article explores the resilience of power grids in the face of pandemics and various machine learning tools that can be helpful to augment human operators are discussed by reviewing the impact of COVID-19 on power grid operations and actions...

Disaster Behavioral Health Through the Lens of COVID-19

This article reviews the history and framework of emergency planning and response and addresses aspects related to COVID-19. Recommendations for how best to incorporate behavioral health responses into future disaster emergency planning are offe...

Dueling Emergencies: Flood Evacuation Ridesharing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper examines the complexity behind the decision-making relating to rideshare during an emergency like COVID-19. Sharing resources during disaster events like vehicles, supports the expansion of critical capacity and enables inclusive disa...

Excess of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Due to Fine Particulate Matter Exposure During the 2020 Wildfires in the United States

This article analyzes data on PM2.5, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, and other confounders for 92 western U.S. counties affected by 2020 wildfires. It includes estimates of the association between short-term exposure to PM2.5 and the ep...

FDA COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery and Preparedness Plan Initiative: Summary Report

This report describes ongoing and potential prospective actions to strengthen FDA's COVID-19 response and build resilience to respond to future emergencies. As the pandemic has presented new challenges for the entire healthcare community and gov...

Individual Hurricane Evacuation Intentions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article discusses how individual hurricane preparedness is often influenced by the additional risk stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. A major finding was that the perceptions of flood and pandemic risks have opposite effects on preparedne...

Lessons from Concurrent Disasters: COVID-19 and Eight Hurricanes

This literary review investigates the relationship of local government leaders and emergency managers in Louisiana who worked collaboratively to respond to the global pandemic and an “epidemic” of landfalling hurricanes during 2020. The review s...

Maintaining Critical Infrastructure Resilience to Natural Hazards During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article describes alternative approaches that an energy organization can take to prepare for a concurrent disaster. Maintaining strong infrastructure during a natural disaster during COVID-19 is challenging and has the potential to disrupt ...

Compound Natural and Human Disasters: Managing Drought and COVID-19 to Sustain Global Agriculture and Food Sectors

This article describes how droughts and pandemics interact and identifies appropriate policies to address them individually and together. Disasters, both natural and human made disrupt global food supply chains when they occur at the same time a...

Mitigating the Twin Threats of Climate-Driven Atlantic Hurricanes and COVID-19 Transmission

This article looks at the co-occurrence of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season and the COVID-19 pandemic and how together they create a complex dilemma for protecting populations from the intersecting threats. This resource answers the questions ...

Navigating the Wildfire-Pandemic Interface

This article provides preliminary data that suggests the current challenges around collective action to address wildfire risk may be further exacerbated due to COVID-19, and that the pandemic has potentially widened existing disparities in house...

Nonprofit Capacity to Manage Hurricane-Pandemic Threat

This report examines the professional capacity of nonprofit organizations when responding to disasters occurring simultaneously. This report includes:Service delivery strategies for nonprofits during COVID-19Impact of natural disasters on nonpro...

Opinion: Compound Risks and Complex Emergencies Require New Approaches to Preparedness

This article calls for a need to redesign institutions to be proactive, agile, and socially just when confronted with compound risks that have become increasingly likely. This resource includes: Risk reduction framework and funding Pandemic l...

Orchestrating Performance of Healthcare Networks Subjected to the Compound Events of Natural Disasters and Pandemic

This article combines wildfire data with varying courses of the spread of COVID-19 to evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies for managing patient demand. It shows that losing access to medical care is a function of the relative occur...

Potential Impact of Earthquakes During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

This article analyzes the potential impact that seismic events may have on the infection rate within regions afflicted by both epidemics and earthquakes. It also explores open software packages that can be employed to simulate the impact of futu...

Preparedness in a Pandemic Workshop Exercise Starter Kit

This guide helps state, local, territorial, and tribal organizations conduct exercises on preparedness during a pandemic. The guide provides planning considerations, discussion questions, and how to conduct internal and external conversations du...

Caring for the Forgotten Children: Rebuilding Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria, Earthquakes, and COVID-19

This article focuses on mental health resiliency within child and adolescent groups as well as the general community members. Communities have vulnerabilities that are often displayed when being impacted by disasters and it is important to learn...

Reflection of Challenges and Opportunities within the COVID-19 Pandemic to Include Biological Hazards into DRR Planning

This article examines key challenges and opportunities from COVID-19 as highlighted at the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Forum convened by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional office...

Special Section: COVID-19/Public Health Preparedness and Response

This article is a collection of COVID-19 treatises that identify some of the flaws in the American social and economic, health care, and disaster response systems and how they often contribute to national disaster mitigation challenges. This art...