Environmental Health Management after Natural Disaster - A Study Guide
Lesson 5 - Phase three: Rehabilitation measures
Study Guide
This final lesson deals primarily with short-term rehabilitation
measures that should be started as soon as possible, such as restoration of
lifeline environmental health services and restoration of essential surveillance
activities. It also outlines the process for evaluating how well the emergency
operations action plan worked.
Learning Objectives
Understand the factors involved in planning for systematic
restoration of environmental health services.
List the six lifeline services that should receive the highest
priority in short-term rehabilitation.
Understand the purpose and application of technical health surveys
in the rehabilitation phase.
Consider when to take environmental health surveys, their order of
importance, and basic parameters used for determining disease risk.
Understand the importance of evaluating the emergency operations
action plan, and consider the types of questions that should be posed and to
whom a final report should be sent.
Learning Activities
Read pages 37-40 in the manual.
Evaluation
Complete the Self-Assessment Test.
Note
Lesson 5 - Self-Assessment Test
Multiple Choice
Circle the correct answer(s):
1. What is the primary role of a national committee?
a. to mobilize and coordinate military and civil
defense personnel in carrying out emergency relief efforts
b. to receive and
distribute relief supplies obtained from national and international
agencies
c. to plan, monitor, and coordinate the reconstruction and
restoration of all lifeline services
d. to make policy changes at the
national level for rechanneling appropriations into priority areas
e. to
review and evaluate the emergency operations action plan so that strengths and
weaknesses of the plan observed under disaster conditions can be recognized and
improvements incorporated in preparedness planning for future disaster
occurrences
2. Technical surveys are performed to:
a. train environmental specialists
b. let the
people know that something is being done
c. assist officials in determining
areas of priority intervention
d. test the usefulness of equipment and
supplies
e. determine the incidence of disease
3. Environmental health surveillance activities are aimed
principally at:
a. determining whether or not there is any increased
risk of disease.
b. evaluating the emergency operations action plan
c.
gathering information about specific equipment and supplies needed
d.
contacting and reassuring victims that order will be restored
e. taking
epidemiologic surveys of the incidence of disease
4. If water is found to contain E. coli and
dramatically increased levels of chloride, this may indicate:
a. contamination of water by insect vectors
b.
contamination of water by human waste
c. presence of a chlorine
residual
d. a possible laxative effect on a consumer
e. high salt levels,
rendering the water unfit to drink but acceptable as an ingredient in
food
5. Besides testing the quality of the food itself, inspections
should be made to determine the cleanliness of:
a. premises where food is handled and prepared
b.
washing facilities
c. food storage facilities
d. facilities for sanitary
excrete disposal
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
6. It is especially critical that settlements for displaced
persons, hospitals, and schools be surveyed for:
a. food handling and preparation activities
b.
children who have been separated from their parents
c. incidence of malaria
and yellow fever
d. adequacy of clothing provisions
e. adequacy of solid
and liquid waste handling systems
7. In order to better coordinate routine activities and improve
emergency response as part of a future disaster preparedness plan, it is first
necessary to:
a. create a national committee of all local and
government service agencies
b. conduct technical and environmental health
surveys
c. evaluate the emergency operations action plan as it was carried
out before, during, and after a disaster
d. map all areas that were in
greatest need of outside disaster relief
e. develop separate subplans for
water supply service, solid waste service, and so forth
8. Environmental health surveys should begin:
a. as soon as water, food, and sanitation services
have been restored
b. as soon as technical surveys have been initiated
c.
throughout all phases of a disaster
d. as soon as electricity,
transportation, and communications services are in operation
e. during the
immediate postdisaster emergency period
9. Short-term rehabilitation measures are undertaken to achieve
three primary objectives: (select three)
a. make emergency information available to the
public
b. prepare lists of needed assistance and submit them to relief
agencies
c. restore lifeline services
d. locate sites for tent camps
e.
restore environmental health surveillance activities
f. conduct technical
surveys
g. return hospitals, schools and churches back to a normal
state
h. evaluate the emergency operations plan once it has been
implemented
10. Phosphatase determination kits check for:
a. high levels of totally dissolved solids in drinking
water supplies
b. deterioration in food quality
c. presence of disease
vectors in food
d. presence of chlorine residual
e. milk quality
f.
contamination of food or water with human waste
11. Chlorine residuals should be tested:
a. only where water is suspected of contamination by
human or chemical waste
b. on a short-term basis
c. between the disaster
occurrence period and the consolidation period
d. immediately after the
disaster and on a routine basis thereafter
e. only until routine testing for
E. coli and nitrates has been instituted
True/False
Indicate T or F:
___12. Only water used in the preparation of food should be tested
for microbial and chemical contaminants.
___13. Supplies and parts should be ordered from local sources
only if they cannot be obtained from international relief agencies.
___14. Some rehabilitation measures must be taken during the
emergency and immediate post emergency periods.
___15. Latrines should be inspected by qualified environmental
health personnel during and after their construction.
___16. Heating fuel, communication, and electricity are not of
primary concern during short-term rehabilitation.
Answer Key
