This article from USA Today is about the aftermath of the
recent typhoon that hit the Philippines. Due to the destruction and chaos,
communication has been an issue between many different attempts to bring aid.
Similar articles from immediately after the storm estimated a total death toll
of 1,200, but the current estimation has risen to 5,000 -10,000 possible deaths
in just the city of Tacloban. The article describes that the central government
is attempting to improve relief efforts by flying in teams of doctors and
psychological health workers. However, many of the response teams’ supplies
have been stuck at the airport. On the world news tonight I also saw that
doctors were running low on medication, bandages, and sanitation supplies,
while the flow of severely injured patients seems never-ending. An additional link found on this
article (http://www.ksdk.com/story/weather/2013/11/12/philippines-typhoon-haiyan-relief-and-survivor-search/3504077/)
further addresses public health concerns, including that the United Nations is
asking for $301 million in aid. This article discusses the concern about power
outages, and that some hospitals without power will lose all their vaccines. It
is estimated that the city of Tacloban may not have power for three months. The
shortage of medication and vaccines may increase future deaths due to infection
and disease. These two articles show the many areas needed in a relief effort
of this caliber. Food, water, medical care, and debris removal are just a few
areas that need immediate attention in this crisis.
What I find most interesting about the situation in the Philippines is the lack of transportation. Here in the United States, if a natural disaster of this magnitude were to happen, supplies would reach the victims quickly (hopefully). After all, no supplies means no relief efforts. Therefore, it only seems logical that the reopening of the Philippine supplies lines would be the first logical step for public health efforts by the local, national and international community.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I believe that international efforts, such as the Belgian task force mentioned in the article should focus on this aspect of providing services to the victims of the typhoon. I believe this because international efforts may possess a certain level of sophistication and expertise that local governments simply cannot provide. In all, a timely and interesting article.
Thanks, Taylor!
I agree with Sean; I would also assume that there would be less of a lag time in getting supplies and medical assistance to the affected people if a disaster of this sort occurred in the United States. I also find it stunning that Tacloban might lose power for three months; I would think that there would be some temporary measure to generate power for the time being. I tried to find out if there were any efforts being made to solve that problem and discover an alternate way to generate electricity but I didn't find any. If the hospitals lose their vaccines due to lack of power and the city is in ruins, communicable diseases could definitely spread and cause a problem on a larger scale. I think getting imminent supplies to the victims is the most important first step, as that will ensure their survival, and then the electricity problem needs to be solved, as it has become a staple of our society that is directly correlated to adequate medical care.
ReplyDeleteIf we think back to what happened in Haiti three or four years ago, there was an eerily similar problem with distribution of resources. Several counties sent aid through the Red Cross, including people, medicine, bottled water, and other supplies. However, several news reports (including Anderson Cooper who somehow manages to be right in the middle of the chaos everytime something like this happens) highlighed the fact that all of these supplies and resources were sitting unused in warehouses. They were not being distributed in a timely manner to the areas that needed them the most. This was being blamed on governmental red tape. We have to think about what is happening here, loss of communication infrastrucutre, loss of electrical power, loss of medical and public health infrastructure, loss of transportation infrastructure, loss of homes, loss of lives, etc. These events happen unexpectedly and no matter how much we plan and practice simulations, we can never anticipate the true magnitude of the impact. Countries become overwhelmed by the aid and the people that show up to help, and the real problem may not be that stuff is not being sent where it is most needed is that people are unsure of who is in charge, who is responsible for distributing aid, which agency is taking the lead, etc. Even thinking about Hurricane Katrina and the backlash that occurred when we saw lines of buses waiting to evacuate people and they were just idling on the interstate waiting for someone to tell them where to go and where to take people. Hundreds of FEMA trailers waiting to be delivered to people who's homes had been destroyed, mounds of paperwork for victims to fill out, lots of hoops to jump through to be approved --- and we practice for these types of events, we use computer models to simulate the impact, we spend lots of money developing action plans on how we will respond and we still don't quite get it right when something actually happens.
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