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T.
Scharf, D. Kovacs, D.E.
Baker, A. Adams, S.J.
Reynolds, and C.M.
Hennessy
NIOSH Education and Information Division
Flood
recovery workers have reported continuing problems with respect
to the identification, management and dissemination of the
basic information necessary for the complex process of disaster
response and recovery, (e.g., basic safety and health information
regarding environmental hazards, general safety, and farm
family stress). First, obtaining dependable, consistent information
has proven to be a tremendous problem in flood recovery. In
some regions, different agencies issued conflicting recommendations
with respect to various aspects of flood response. Second,
gaining access to the information has proven to be very difficult
as well. Consequently, The University of Iowa Flood Response
Workshop identified the need to improve communication between
service providers, and to establish a peer-reviewed, information
clearinghouse and resource center.
A variety
of solutions have been proposed to address the problem of
information management. In addition to traditional printed
resources in libraries and elsewhere, CD-ROM technology has
made possible a portable resource of tremendous capacity (Pierce
Jones, Univ. of Florida). On-line access to libraries and
to various forms of electronic bulletin boards has expanded
exponentially the amount of available information. Finally,
electronic discussion lists permit communication among social
service and other professionals across large distances, with
a complete cycle of question and answer in as little as a
single day.
One
of the principal issues on the agenda of the St. Louis "Legacy
of the Flood" workshop was an examination of this problem
of rapid access to reliable disaster response and recovery
information. One component of the solution to this problem
was recommended by the Iowa workshop and established at the
St. Louis workshop. As an outcome of both workshops, a LISTSERV-based,
electronic discussion list, FLOOD-L, has been created at the
University of Missouri - Columbia. The goals of the discussion
list are to facilitate day-to-day communication between flood
recovery workers throughout the nine-state region, and to
store relevant, consistent information for retrieval via e-mail.
The goals, structure and potential applications of the FLOOD-L
electronic network are discussed as a model for information
dissemination and rapid inter-agency communication and coordination.
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and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
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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: NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH; Kent
State Univ., Kent, OH; Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO; Fed.
Office of Rural Health Policy, Washington, DC; The Univ. of
Iowa, Iowa City, IA and Fed. Office of Rural Health Policy,
Washington, DC respectively
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