Acknowledgements

This study has been carried out jointly by the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of West Indies (Professor R. Standard, Head) and the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters of the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels (Professor M.F. Lechat, Head). The investigation has been made possible with the cooperation and assistance from officials of the Government of Dominica and numerous others. Hr. O. Symes, Permanent Secretary and Dr. D. Mc Intyre, Coordinator of Health Services of the Ministry of Health, provided their assistance throughout this study. Miss J. Alfred, who selected and organized the interviewers, was instrumental in the success of the interviews. Professor K. Standard, Dr. W.C. Dyer and Dr. E. Garret, from the University of West Indies, Professor M.F. Lechat and Dr. H. De Bruycker, Dr. A. Coles (Ph.D, Geography) and Mrs. C. Boucquey, from the Catholic University of Louvain, were responsible for the inception and completion of the study. Professor A. Bouckaert, Mrs. C. Misson and Mr. Y. de Kettenis of the Department of Epidemiology of the Catholic University of Louvain assisted in the analysis of the data. Partial funding of this project was provided by the Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office of the World Health Organization for the Americas, through a grant to the University of West Indies.