Knowledge of and Preparedness for Use of Environmental Assessments in Shelters During Disasters: Results of the 2013 State and Territorial Use of Shelter Assessments Survey

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Disaster Med Public Health Prep
• Personal Author:
  Cruz, Miguel A. ; Rubens, Muni ; Garcia, Stephanie J. ; Malilay, Josephine ; Levin, Karen L. ; Dale Williams, O.
• Description:
  Objective: ; Environmental health assessments of disaster shelters are critical for monitoring the living conditions of the occupants. However, knowledge and levels of utilization of these assessments have never been estimated in the United States or its territories. We aimed to conduct a cross-sectional survey to ascertain knowledge and Utilization of environmental health disaster shelter assessments. ; Methods: ; The State and Territorial Use of Shelter Assessments Survey (STUSA) of environmental health department directors (N = 56) was carried out in 2013. ; Results: ; Survey responses were received from 55 of 56 targeted jurisdictions. Of those respondents, 92% of state jurisdictions and 100% of territories reported having knowledge about shelter assessments. However, only 40% of states and 60% of territories reported receiving formal training, and 53% of states and 50% of territories reported having operational procedures for shelter assessments. High levels of knowledge and familiarity and low levels of training and processes for operationalizing assessments were assessed. ; Conclusions: ; Because environmental health assessments may provide useful information in disaster settings, we need to understand the barriers to their implementation. The results of these assessments may also help to validate their usefulness in protecting shelter occupants during disasters.
• Subjects:
  • Civil Defense
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Disaster Planning
  • Emergency Shelter
  • Humans
  • Program Evaluation
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States
• Keywords:
  • disaster assessments
  • public health
  • disaster shelters
  • vulnerable populations
  • risk assessments
• Source:
  Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 11(1):11-14
• Pubmed ID:
  27511727
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11190961
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  11
• Issue:
  1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/158144/cdc_158144_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 200.11 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:0a780dcbe439b109d1caf9796dce59a675698ff941c4fdf12db552ec767a5dc9