All Hazards Disaster Module: Using CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for Disaster Preparedness and Response

BACKGROUND: A key step in preparedness planning for any disaster is pre-disaster identification of various hazards, vulnerable populations, and knowledge of available resources and local response capacities. This information may help public health agencies optimize their planning for disaster response activities. To accomplish this,(SLTT HDs) and Emergency Managers (EMs) need access to timely, user-friendly, local-level data on the various public health aspects of previous disasters, demographics and characteristics of their at-risk populations, and existing local infrastructure and public health resources. CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network) is a system of integrated health, exposure, and hazard information and data from a variety of national, state, and city sources. CDC expanded the data and functionality of the National Public Portal of the Tracking Network to: 1) provide relevant data and analytical tools via a new All Hazard Disaster (AHD) module for assisting SLTT HDs and EMs in their preparedness planning and disaster response activities, and 2) establish an emergency data feed within the Tracking Network for secure transmission of mortality and morbidity data during a disaster to CDC from the affected state or locality.

METHODS: To accomplish the development of the AHD module, CDC formed a workgroup of SLTT HD representatives and EMs in states and localities with and without a Tracking Program, as well as from several existing disaster-related workgroups from national public health organizations such as Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologist (CSTE) Disaster workgroup and National Alliance of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). With input from the workgroup, CDC has created a first set of indicators and measures for the AHD module.

RESULTS: The AHD module enables public health planners to assess likely disaster type, emergency response capabilities, infrastructure capacity, and vulnerable populations in their communities. As part of AHD module development and on the basis of workgroup recommendations, the functionality of the Tracking Network was expanded to display sub-county data. This modification improved data exploration and visualization by enhancing user control and charting of multiple datasets. In the coming year, we will expand the AHD module to include additional data and tools that will help public health professionals with disaster preparedness and response activities.

CONCLUSIONS: The data available on the AHD module may be analyzed by powerful spatial temporal and data visualization techniques to help public health authorities identify the most likely disasters and those populations at-risk for adverse effects from a geographical, socio-economic, and/or meteorological perspective.