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Impact of Public Health Emergencies on Modern Disaster Taxonomy, Planning, and Response

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Frederick M. Burkle Jr, MD, MPH, DTM, c/o 452 Iana St, Kailua, HI 96734 (e-mail: fburkle{at}hsph.harvard.edu).

Current disaster taxonomy describes diversity, distinguishing characteristics, and common relations in disaster event classifications. The impact of compromised public health infrastructure and systems on health consequences defines and greatly influences the manner in which disasters are observed, planned for, and managed, especially those that are geographically widespread, population dense, and prolonged. What may first result in direct injuries and death may rapidly change to excess indirect illness and subsequent death as essential public health resources are destroyed, deteriorate, or are systematically denied to vulnerable populations. Public health and public health infrastructure and systems in developed and developing countries must be seen as strategic and security issues that deserve international public health resource monitoring attention from disaster managers, urban planners, the global humanitarian community, World Health Organization authorities, and participating parties to war and conflict. We posit here that disaster frameworks be reformed to emphasize and clarify the relation of public health emergencies and modern disasters.

Key Words: Public health emergencies • public health infrastructure and systems • disaster classification and taxonomy • disaster planning and management • disaster and war mortality and morbidity • terrorism