Factory farming practices are under scrutiny again in N.C. after disastrous hurricane floods.
This is not the first time that NC has experienced serious environmental damage due to animal carcasses and animal waste in the aftermath of a disaster.
Update:
Fellow blogger Eric Holdeman and I have been concerned with all of the criticism that Red Cross has received in recent months, primarily from Pro Publica. In an effort to get a more balanced account of what has occurred, he sought out Sr. Vice President Harvey Johnson to respond.
See: The Red Cross Responds to Disasters — and the Critics. Senior Vice President Harvey Johnson discusses the mission and the criticism.
Thanks to Eric for this citation.
These results are not a surprise for many of us. Just an update on an old problem. See: Natural Disasters May Increase Substance Abuse Risk, Study Finds
Researchers from multiple institutions, including the University of Miami, examined data from New Orleans to understand if residents were more at risk for substance abuse after living through the trauma of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane hit New Orleans and surrounding areas as a Category 3 hurricane in 2005, causing hundreds of deaths and major devastation. Using hospital data from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the researchers looked at data from 2004 and 2008 to see if there was a change in the rate of hospitalizations for substance abuse.
They found that the rate of hospitalizations for substance abuse increased approximately 30 percent, from 7.13 hospitalizations for 1,000 people to 9.65 hospitalizations for every 1,000 people, according to the finding published in the medical journal Preventing Chronic Disease.
“This result is not surprising given that a large segment of the local population experienced trauma, which had the potential to increase hospitalization rates at the same time that the city’s population was reduced,” the authors wrote in the study. “These 2 factors accounted for the high hospitalization rates in areas that lost population.”
Here are three articles that deal with poverty and disasters: one dealing with the U.S. (Hurricane Matthew and subsequent flooding in NC) and two with an international scope.
Poor, Displaced and Anxious in North Carolina as Floods Climb After Hurricane
UN report on Poverty and Death from Disasters
A new report finds more than a million people have been killed in more than 7,000 natural disasters stretching over a 20-year period. The report, “Poverty & Death: Disaster Mortality 1996-2015,” finds 90 percent of these disaster deaths occur in low-and-middle-income countries.
What Hurricane Matthews Path Through Haiti and the U.S. Tells Us About Global Inequality.
From the NYTimes, The Beach Boondoggle. An excerpt:
Data from the United States Geological Survey show that more than half of beaches on the East and Gulf Coasts are eroding. We seem to be to trying to hold every shoreline in place forever by pumping sand onto them, largely at federal expense. But this is folly. As sea-level rise continues, and if storms intensify as predicted, the projects will require more sand, and more dollars. We are going to run out of both.
2016 Could Set a Record for Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters. The U.S. has already had the second highest number of billion-dollar weather disasters ever, claiming a total of 68 lives and $26.9 billion in damages.
This is a topic that I have not seen addressed before. See: Hurricane Health: The Hidden Dangers After the Storm Is Gone
The article is titled How FEMA Uses Waffle House To Measure Disasters. You may already have heard that Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator, has devised an index that includes whether or not the Waffle House restaurants are open. But I think the more important point of the story is the exemplary corporate disaster preparedness steps taken by Waffle House — the degree to which the corporate headquarters of Waffle House has taken steps to be prepared for disasters and to ensure the continuity of their operations. Here are some of the details from the article:
Because Waffle Houses restaurants are in areas prone to hurricanes and tornadoes, the company has made it part of their business plan to be prepared, said Pat Warner, the vice president of culture at Waffle House.
“We all have, what I call, ‘day jobs’ and then when the crisis comes, we all kind of stop,” said Warner, who’s also part of the company’s disaster management team. For example, the man who handles restaurant operations also monitors the weather during hurricane season. The company starts tracking storms when they’re still a tropical depression, Warner said.
Every employee also has a copy of the company’s hurricane playbook, which has instructions on how to respond during a crisis. If a storm’s on its way, Warner said the company will rent generators and start sending teams to the area.
Waffle House even has an emergency menu, pared down for quick production and efficiency.
And you have to admit, the free publicity and great community relations are outcomes Waffle House must appreciate.
I was not aware of this service to protect heirlooms and national treasures. See: The Heritage Emergency National Task Force, let by the Smithsonian Institution.
Recovery Diva 