Community-Based Preparedness

China recently launched a rocket to space, but unfortunately, the booster that detached was moving fast enough to go into orbit around the earth. Eventually, it will leave its orbit after circling the earth approximately 30 times, becoming one of the largest instances of reentry to Earth of a…

Residents in Manatee County, Florida have been evacuated over Easter weekend due to the potential leakage of contaminated wastewater at a former phosphate plant. Decades prior, phosphate was mined there for fertilizer use. Since the plant's closure in 2001, there remains three phosphogypsum stacks…

In the Coachella Valley, located in California’s Riverside County, the county health department has opened up pop-up vaccination sites to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to farmworkers, regardless of their age or health conditions. This program which began in January this year is helping contain the…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released a National Risk Index map, created by 80 experts over 6 years. Taking into account community resilience and 18 natural disasters, the map has ranked Los Angeles County as having the highest risk in the United States. Some of the natural…

Typhoon Goni, the strongest typhoon this year, passed through the southern region of the Philippine’s main island, Luzon killing at least ten people. Heavy rain and winds up to 133 miles per hour have destroyed dikes, caused rivers to overflow, and buried hundred of houses in landslides. The…

As the fall season approaches, the public must remain vigilant amidst colder weather, reopened schools, and loosening restrictions. Some ways to stay safe are to limit your physical contact to just a small group of friends or family and to leave large gatherings to a virtual platform. It is also a…

How do communities maintain social distancing when tornado season hits and people need to evacuate their homes to go to community shelters? Emergency managers and other officials are trying to decide the best protocol for their natural disaster response amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Some changes may…

The United States is still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. As time goes on, more places will have to deal with natural disasters occurring in addition to the pandemic, like the tornadoes that hit Iowa in April. State and local authorities are preparing emergency shelters, deciding where to send…

The coronavirus poses a threat to college campuses across the United States, prompting many schools to quickly formulate preparedness plans and inform students of changes to campus life including alternative online class options. Schools are also imposing travel restrictions, preventing university…

Despite projections of 1 to 1.5 million tests to be performed this week from Vice President Mike Pence and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the FDA, the number of actual tests performed in the U.S. is much lower. The Atlantic was only able to verify that less than 1,900 people have received…

The Xinjia Hotel in Quanzhou, China that was be used to quarantine people that tested positive for COVID-19 or had come in contact with people who had the virus, has collapsed. 70 people got trapped as the hotel caved in on itself, and an estimated 38 people have been rescued. Families of the…

Artificial intelligence technology is used to generate manipulated facial images for fake social media accounts. Social media activist, Nandini Jammi, has been a victim of harassment from an AI-generated user named "Jessica", one of fifty accounts owned by a single online troll. The…

Structural engineers are a type of civil engineers that are specialized in understanding the stability of any structures, like the framework of buildings and bridges. Structural engineers have a particular role in the context of emergency preparedness and disaster response - at the scene of a…

The adoption of the “Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model” has seen significantly effective results. According to the crisis center, there were zero domestic violence-related homicides in the high-risk team’s greater Newburyport area between 2005 and 2016, with 81% of all offenders found guilty…