PRE-HURRICANE KATRINA MULTIDISCIPLINARY PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH AND ITS APPLICATION DURING THE CATASTROPHE

The world is at ever-increasing risk from tropical cyclones. When Katrina hit PI's with the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes (CSPHIH) had a thorough understanding of the impacts of a flooded New Orleans.

To understand surge impacts, the ADvanced CIRCulation hydrodynamic model (ADCIRC) was acquired. A planning tool, it is also used for experimental storm surge predictions. As Katrina approached model output was made available to emergency managers. The graphics were carried by the media. It is clear that ADCIRC saved lives.

It is critical to determine characteristics of the population to be impacted. A baseline survey was collected from 1,000 New Orleaneans. The survey revealed that 300,000 persons would remain in their homes. Even though this data was communicated to government officials months before Katrina hit, it was tragically ignored.

As a consequence of a major flooding event the following was known:- • Helicopter and boat rescues would be in the thousands a day, mechanisms would have to be set up to get food, water and medicines to those trapped. If 30,000 were rescued a day it would take 10 days. • Survivors would have trauma and the concomitant risk of tetanus and staph infections. The immediate health problems would include gastroenteric problems due to contaminated water, stress, worsening personal hygiene, and chemical intoxications. Evacuation centers would have to deal with people with inadequate supplies of prescribed medications. Security issues would arise. • During the time from the end of the first week to the second month there would be complex population fluxes - people allowed home, others kept in evacuation centers, movement from one center to another, further evacuations, and possibly a floating criminal population. This period would be characterized by an increasing incidence of stress-related infections, asthma, and other respiratory diseases. A major component of this period would be the urgent need for aggressive mental health programs and getting children back into structured lives and school.

The research outputs of the CSPHIH proved to be extremely timely, given the Katrina catastrophe. However, government was not always ready to listen. This partially resulted in the delayed response which greatly exacerbated the catastrophe.