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L.J.
Chapman and D.G. Hinds
NIOSH Education and Information Division
Traditional
efforts to minimize the consequences of disasters have emphasized
scientific and technological advances, such as better warning
systems, building designs, and land use plans. Federal and
state disaster assistance efforts have traditionally focused
on minimizing physical effects during the disaster impact
phase (e.g., evacuation, emergency care, food, shelter) and
the emergency response phase (e.g., damage assessment, debris
removal, restoration of basic services). However, existing
efforts are not designed to provide much assistance with the
more complex restoration activities that take place during
the long-term recovery phase (e.g., restoring a community's
social, institutional, and economic fabric, reintegrating
victims with the larger community). Recently, there has been
a recognition of this gap and a new appreciation of the importance
of public health and especially psychosocial interventions
for alleviating the impact of disasters.
Experience
in communities hit by disasters has made clear the importance
of community-based educational support in facilitating individual
and community activities during the months to years required
for completing the recovery phase. In many disasters, the
network of Extension educators, who work out of offices in
virtually every county in each state, has proven to be an
ideal vehicle for aiding long-term recovery efforts. Local
Extension educators are not outsiders but members of the affected
communities and typically have years of experience working
with the area's individuals, families, businesses, community
organizations and local government officials. Extension educators
are also skilled at providing community-based educational
support, at facilitating planning groups and public meetings,
and at coordinating community development initiatives. Currently,
most Extension educators have no special training for or experience
with disasters and developing that expertise takes time. Extension
educators in local communities would be far more valuable
and effective if a few state level Extension specialists could
provide them with training and guidance in the first hours
after a disaster strikes. Timely training of Extension educators
in affected communities is also more practical and less costly
than attempting to train every Extension educator in the country.
A program
to provide training and support to locally-based Extension
educators as disaster situations occur would compliment and
enhance existing federal and state disaster assistance programs.
To undertake this type of program, training materials and
teaching modules need to be developed for Extension educators
that address:
- the
psychosocial dimension of disasters,
- human
responses at the individual and community level,
- the
multiple dimensions of the long-term recovery process, and
- intervention
strategies and techniques.
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NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
The
authors noted above are from: Both at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, WI
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