 | Disasters Preparedness and Mitigation - Issue No. 70 - July 1997 (PAHO) |
 |
|
News from PAHO/WHO
Health Crisis and the Internet
An International Meeting on Harnessing the Internet for Disasters and Epidemics will take place 18-21 November in Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia. Organized by the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization and the Ministry of Health of Colombia, the three-day meeting will be followed by one day of optional hands-on workshops on practical uses of the Internet. The meeting will feature best practices from a variety of -sectors and offer participants the chance to discuss and make recommendations on improving the way the Internet is used to manage crisis situations.
Up-to-date information will be placed on the Meeting Web site: http://www.paho.org/english/disaster.htm which offers on-line registration and allows you to sign up for updates by e-mail. Questions? Contact crisis-internet@paho.org
New Issue of Hospital Newsletter Published
Safer Hospitals for the 21st Century is a periodic bulletin of news, publications and articles on disaster mitigation strategies for health care facilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Begun in 1996, it promotes the efforts of countries in the Americas to safeguard these critical facilities, primarily against the impact of sudden-onset disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. To receive a copy of the latest issue and be put on the mailing list, write to PAHO.
|
New Disaster Office in the Dominican Republic PAHO/WHO, with support of the Government of France, has assigned a
disaster preparedness expert to its country office in the Dominican Republic,
Dr. Fabien Asselin de Williencourt will oversee activities in this country and
in Haiti and Cuba. He can be reached c/o OPS/OMS, Apartado 1464, Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic; Fax: (809) 544-0322; e-mail: asselinf@paho.org.
|
International Advisory Group on Hospital Safety Meets in Mexico
A renowned group of six international experts met in Mexico City in July to form an advisory group on disaster mitigation for health facilities. The group's aim was to promote the recommendations and goals adopted at the International Conference on Disaster Mitigation in Health Facilities (Mexico, February 1996; complete text available on the Web at http://www.paho.org/english/ped/pedcmlen.htm) and to establish working guidelines to orient hospitals and other health facilities on mitigation measures such as vulnerability or risk analyses. The group also reviewed new disaster mitigation training material and made recommendations on future training strategies, including curriculum content, target audience and duration of courses. Three observers - an architect, a physician and a public works engineer - also attended the meeting.
|
Discover What's New from CRID on the Internet Have you visited CRID's new-Web site yet? If you haven't, you're missing out on important information resources available to any user with Internet access. Among the most frequently used: · New on-line search function DESASTRES is the database used to index all documents that reach the Center. Today, it contains more than 10,500 technical documents, 60% of which are in Spanish. Now you can locate the latest information available in the CRID on a certain topic using a simple search engine on the World Wide Web. For expert and enthusiastic explorers, an advanced option is available for more complex searches. No longer do you have to write to ask what documents are available on, for example, hurricanes, the El Niño phenomenon or earthquakes in Colombia. Now you can find out for yourself. · Frequently Asked Questions This section answers the 14 most common questions that users pose to the CRID. It also explains how to obtain information, the cost of services, how to search for what you need, and bow. to receive copies of the BIBLIODES series or the DESINDEX. · Important News New meetings, publications, electronic discussion groups-all of interest to those working in the field of information as it relates to disasters and emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean-is found in this section on News and Happenings. Users are invited to contribute to this section by sending news of regional interest. · Full-text Documents Little by little, more technical publications are being made available in their full-text version. CRID will support this type of access, because it is easier and quicker for users and substantially reduces costs. Users are encouraged to download and point these books, articles, congress proceedings, manuals, etc and photocopy and distribute them locally. Visit this section of CRID Web site to consult documents from the International Conference on Hospital Mitigation in Health Facilities, the International Seminar on Preparedness for Chemical Accidents and others. A manual on MicroIsis (the UN-standard software used to classify documentation) and a Guide for Creating Documentation Centers are also waiting for you. · Links to Web sites of interest Besides providing access to the home pages of CRID's partner agencies, you can use this site to learn about and visit an wide range of World Wide Web sites related to disasters and emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean and worldwide. These are just a few of the reasons to visit CRID's new Web site and add it to your list of bookmarks. CRID, the Regional Disaster information Center, is a
multiagency project whose purpose is to facilitate access to disseminate
technical and scientific information disasters.
|
|
|