Hurricanes, Response, and Community Health Resilience

• Published date: 01 December 2017
• Date: 01 December 2017
• Author: Arnauld Nicogossian,Otmar Kloiber,Bonnie Stabile,Edward Septimus
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.252

Editorial

Hurricanes, Response, and Community Health

Resilience

Arnauld Nicogossian, Bonnie Stabile , Otmar Kloiber, and Edward Septimus

Natural and human-made disasters, including earthquakes, f‌loods, cyber-

security threats, and antimicrobial resistance, collectively continue to strain local

economies and affect communities worldwide in a multiplicity of ways, demanding

international response and posing ongoing logistical hurdles (Nicogossian & Stabile,

2015). Natural disasters can strike anywhere and do n ot discriminate between

developed and developing countries, though aff‌luence certainly eases the always

arduous recovery process. Geographic location and proximity to natural resources

and products supporting major commercial nodes are major challenges facing many

communities is the aftermath of disasters, with dire implications for human health.

Hurricanes and tropical storms regularly affect coastal regions during specif‌ic

months of the year. The population of coastal regions is steadily increasing, and

expanding urbanization usually brings geographic and ecological changes. Two-

thirds of annual coastal disasters are associated with extreme weather events,

such as tornadoes, destructive wind, and f‌looding, and these are part of a “trend

that is expected to continue into the future ... due to climate change and sea level

rise” (Newmann, Vafeidis, Zimmermann, & Nicholls, 2015). Such disasters are

attributable in part to the documented contribution of human activities (Nicogos-

sian, Stabile, Kloiber, & Septimus, 2017). The severe impacts of multiple

hurricanes that devastated and f‌looded Florida, Caribbean islands, the Gulf Coast

of Texas and Mexico, and Puerto Rico, in 2017 are unfortunate reminders of the

severe and worsening challenges facing coastal communities.

While there has been marked improvement in disaster response, including

early warnings and large-scale evacuations, community recovery is still problem-

atic. The aftermath of such disasters can result in unnecessary loss of life and

astronomical costs. Flooding, infections, mold, and exposure to environmental

and industrial hazards continue to hamper recovery. Natural or human-made

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 9, No. 4, 2017

396

doi: 10.1002/wmh3.252

#2017 Policy Studies Organization