The Center for Refugee and Disaster Response is an internationally recognized leader in building capacity to meet the physical and mental health needs of refugees and disaster victims worldwide.
Education & Training - We train the leaders who help prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises. Research - We conduct research that provides the evidence needed to evaluate and enhance disaster preparedness and response.
Partnerships - We partner with governments and international relief organizations to develop skills and systems to protect the health and lives of disaster victims in the U.S. and around the word.
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An assessment team travelled to Haiti in January 2011 to conduct a post-earthquake assessment. Members of the study team include Shannon Doocy, Paul Perrin (a doctoral student in International Health) Sally Graglia (MPH student) and Tom Kirsch. The team’s local partners in Haiti are IDEJEN, a Haitian youth development organization, and Project Concern International (PCI), a US-based NGO. The assessment aims to document the impact of the earthquake on Haitian health and well-being, assess receipt of humanitarian assistance, and identify current needs and priorities which will help inform future humanitarian assistance efforts.
Updates from the field on Facebook.
With the generous support of the Johnson and Johnson Foundation and the CRDR Advisory Committee, CRDR faculty are conducting simultaneous post-disaster impact and response surveys in three countries this month. The purpose of the surveys is to determine the impact of disasters on the affected population and to assess the quality of the response efforts in meeting their needs. The studies will reflect three different phases of the disaster response- the short-term impact after the floods in Pakistan, one year after the earthquake in Haiti, and the long-term effects on the people in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, six years after the tsunami.
Dr. Courtland Robinson will be leading the study in Indonesia, assisted by Indonesian collaborators and graduate students Christopher Lee and Sana Malik. This study is a follow up to prior studies conducted at 1 and 3 years after the tsunami and will help to determine how major disasters affect people years after the event.
Dr. Shannon Doocy is heading the effort in Haiti, working with the Project Concern International and a local Haitian NGO, IDEJEN, which employs Haitian students to train them in research and survey techniques. Hopkins graduate students Paul Perrin and Sally Graglia will be assisting in Port au Prince. The study will be conducted one year after the earthquake that destroyed the capital of Haiti. Its purpose is to look at the medium-term impact of the disaster in terms of health, public health and economic impact and to try to determine if the relief efforts were successful at meeting the needs of the affected people.
Dr. Tom Kirsch will be working with the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health in Pakistan to assess the impact of the floods that affected 20 million people this summer. He will be assisted by MPH students, Lillian Digiacomo, Mohammed Siddiqui and Pauline Lubens.
Post-disaster assessment is critical to understanding the impact of the event. More importantly, it can be used to assess the impact of the response efforts and to improve efforts in the future. Disaster response is a multi-billion dollar annual business but it is not regulated and there is limited information available about the actual impact of relief efforts. Consequently, CRDR faculty are working to develop the tools that can improve response efforts in the future.
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