Back Cover

Natural disasters continue to batter the Americas - and virtually every other corner of the world. These guidelines are an invaluable tool for weakening a disaster’s worst ravages on the population’s health.

This publication outlines the health sector’s role in reducing the impact of disasters, laying out a framework that an administrator can rely on to make effective decisions in managing the health sector’s activities to reduce the consequences of disasters. It describes the overall effects of disasters on health, highlighting myths and realities, and summarizes how the health sector must organize itself to cope with disasters. The book emphasizes the multisectoral nature of disaster preparedness and sets forth guidelines for preparing health sector disaster plans, means of coordination, and special technical programs before a disaster hits. The book also includes ground-breaking information on the management of supplies in a disaster.

The book is primarily aimed at health sector professionals who participate in disaster preparedness, response, and mitigation. Disaster management has become such an intersectoral enterprise, however, that anyone interested in disaster mitigation will find here a useful primer. Public health students and professors also can rely on this book in formal and informal courses.

Pan American Health Organization Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Regional Office of the World Health Organization 525 Twenty-third Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 www.paho.org