Other organizations

PCDPPP Has New Project Manager

The United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator has appointed Mr. Franklin J. McDonald as the new Project Manager of the Pan Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Project (PCDPPP) located in St. John's, Antigua. Since 1980, Mr. McDonald had served as the Director of Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODIPERC). PCDPPP was set up to develop the individual and collective capacity of the 28 participating Caribbean countries and territories to prepare for and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, thereby reducing losses and contributing to development. Activities include training personnel, setting up warning systems, carrying out vulnerability analyses and increasing public awareness and response. Mr. McDonald may be contacted at PCDPPP, P.O. Box 1399, St. John's, Antigua, West Indies.

Disaster Mental Health

The Simon Bolivar Psychiatric Research and Training Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago is preparing a monograph entitled Psychosocial Consequences of Disasters: The Latin American Experience. Its main purpose is to help clinicians to manage the psychosocial aspects of disaster victims, and to help health planners to design, implement and evaluate mental health programs. The monograph will provide an overview of disaster mental health, present common psychiatric disorders seen among victims, give examples of model service delivery programs, discuss organizational response to disasters, and address issues of education and training in disaster mental health.

For information on the scheduled date of publication contact Dr. Bruno Lima, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Meyer 4-109, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, U.S.A.

Disaster Response for the Homeless

The journal Open House International has published a special issue on homelessness and disaster response. The rapidly increasing vulnerability of the poor who must live in homes which offer minimal resistance to the forces of natural disasters and which are often sited in dangerous areas, raises a number of issues that are addressed in this journal such as the most appropriate forms of post-disaster shelter to accommodate the homeless; the best strategy for hazard-resistant building and housing education at the community level; and lessons that can be applied for effective reconstruction planning. For information on ordering contact NBS Services Ltd., Open House International, Mansion House Chambers, The Close, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3RE, United Kingdom.