ROLES FOR EARTH SCIENTISTS IN HELPING TO ENHANCE RESILIENCE TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL-HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF DISASTERS

Disasters pose immediate threats to human safety and health, but they also can have significant effects on the environment, which can lead to acute or chronic environmental health consequences. The USGS has helped assess environmental and health implications of materials produced by natural and anthropogenic disasters, such as pathogen-bearing dusts produced by the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, California (which led to an outbreak of Valley Fever), dust and debris from the 2001 World Trade Center collapse, tailings and other mine wastes from 1993-96 spills in the Philippines, flood waters and sediments from 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita, ash and burned soils from 2007–09 southern California wildfires, volcanic ash from numerous eruptions, and mud from the ongoing LUSI mud eruption in East Java, Indonesia. These experiences highlight roles for interdisciplinary earth science in environmental disaster response, such as: characterizing the physical, chemical, and microbial makeup of materials generated by the disasters; identifying sources of the materials; monitoring, mapping, and modeling dispersal and evolution of materials in the environment; understanding how the materials are modified by environmental processes; identifying key characteristics and processes that influence the materials' toxicity to exposed humans and ecosystems; and estimating shifts away from pre-disaster environmental baseline conditions. Growing upon lessons learned from these responses, we are working with collaborators from the disaster response/planning, environmental, and public health communities to include environmental and environmental-health considerations in the USGS-led 2008 California ShakeOut scenario (modeling the impacts of a hypothetical 7.8 magnitude earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault) and the 2011 ARkStorm scenario (modeling the impacts of a hypothetical weeks-long winter storm hitting southern and central California). Helping understand the potential sources, types, environmental behavior, and health implications of natural and anthropogenic contaminants and pathogens produced in these disaster scenarios will ultimately enhance planning for and resilience to environmental and health consequences of future disasters.