Human-generated disasters

Epidemiology, as classically defined, is the quantitative study of the distributions and determinants of health-related events in human populations (Gordis, 2004 see chapter 15 for further discussion). Disaster epidemiology is the measurement of the adverse health effects of natural and human-generated disasters and... 

The book you are about to read offers a comprehensive analysis of a broad range of disasters possible in today s world—both those wreaked by humans as well as by nature. This text is the next generation of information needed by nurses to be informed about and responsive to the needs of our citizens in a disaster. Katrina was a wake-up event. The roles that nurses and nurse assistants played in that disaster were selfless and inspiring. Katrina only served to undergird our awareness that we must be vigilant and prepared ... 

Industrial flres are known to cause disasters, affecting both life and property. Literature is rich on this subject If the loss of human life is not caused as a result of convected and radiant heat or direct contact with flames, it may be caused by suffocation due to the inhalation of toxic combustion products or to lack of oxygen. In an explosion workers may by injured by direct impact from debris or by the blast or over-pressure generated by the explosion. Some chemicals are specifically fomulated to explode and are referred to as explosives. Others such as the organic peroxides and some azo and nitro compounds, explode because they are unstable. These may be formed as intomediates in chemical reactions or as the result of a reaction between incompatible chemicals. Table... 

Debt financing may be particularly applicable for safety nets when they benefit future generations in ways that will raise their productivity, and consequently future tax revenues, or when a temporary increase in expenditures is needed, as after an economic crisis or a natural disaster. Both these conditions pertained in 2001 when Colombia and Turkey borrowed money from the International Bank from Reconstruction and Development to found CCT programs to ensure that the economic crises in their countries did not impair the poor s ability to build human capital for their children. At the same time, such programs do not always scale back automatically after a crisis. 

Industrial disasters have played a major part in generating the fascination for studying human faults and human errors. Without the nuclear industry and its disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and more recently at Fukushima, without the aviation industry and the accident in Tenerife, and without the Bhopal disaster in the chemical industry, very little progress would have been made towards theories on error, safety and human reliability. 

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