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ISDS 2018 Conference Abstracts

Disaster Surveillance: Perspectives from Federal, 
State, and Local levels
Eric V. Bakota*1, David Atrubin2, Michael Coletta3 and Aaron Kite-Powell3
1Health Department, Harris County Public Health, Houston, TX, USA; 2Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL, USA; 3CDC, 
Atlanta, GA, USA

Objective
In this panel, attendees will learn about how disaster surveillance 

was conducted in response to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, as well 
as the role of CDC at the federal level in supporting local response 
efforts. By hearing and discussing the challenges faced and solutions 
identified, attendees will be better able to respond in the event of 
a low-frequency/high-consequence disaster occurring within their 
jurisdiction.

Introduction
In this panel, the presenters will discuss their perspective in 

responding to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Hurricane Harvey made 
landfall on August 25th and over the course of 4 days dropped 
approximately 27 trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana.1 
The flooding that ensued was unprecedented and forced over 13,000 
people into shelters.2 These individuals needed to have their basic 
needs -food, shelter, clothing, sanitation- met as well as their physical 
and mental health needs. The George R Brown Conference Center 
(GRB) and NRG Stadium Center were set up as mega-shelters to 
house shelterees. Hurricane Irma made landfall on September 10th in 
the Florida Keys as a Category 4 Hurricane. The Hurricane caused 72 
deaths3 and forced thousands of people into shelters.4 These weather 
events created novel challenges for local response efforts. Decision 
makers needed timely and actionable data, including surveillance 
data.

Keywords
disaster epidemiology; informatics; preparedness

References
1. Sanchez R, Yan H, Simon D. Harvey aftermath: Houston ‘open for

business’; other cities suffering. CNN. 2017 Sep 1.
2. Sullivan K, Hernandez A, Fahrenthold D. Harvey leaving record

rainfall, at least 22 deaths behind in Houston. Chicago Tribune. 2017
Aug 29.

3. Impact of Hurricane Irma. Boston Globe. Accessed 2017 Oct 10.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/bigpicture/2017/09/11/impact-
hurricane-irma/W6WBN9K2lXd4gPmtu26auN/story.html

4. Smith A. After Hurricane Irma, Many Ask: How Safe Are Shelters?
Tampa Bay Times. 2017 September 21.

*Eric V. Bakota
E-mail: eric.bakota@gmail.com

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 10(1):e108, 2018