Welcome to the National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities, developed by the Drexel University School of Public Health’s Center for Health Equality, with support from the HHS Office of Minority Health.
Breaking News: On June 11 WHO raised the Pandemic Alert Level to Phase 6, meaning that the H1N1 outbreak is a pandemic according to WHO standards. WHO officials consider the severity influenza A H1N1 to be moderate, but are concerned about patterens of serious cases in young persons. For a comprehensive list of resources and translated materials on H1N1 and pandemics CLICK HERE.
The Start of Hurricane Season:
With the start of Atlantic hurricane season, which officially spans from June 1st to November 30th, comes the threat of storms ravaging the Gulf Coast region and Eastern seaboard of the United States. The CDC has centralized resources in recognition of National Hurricane Preparedness Week. The National Resource Center also provides a comprehensive list of annotated resources from various fields which focus on the needs of culturally diverse populations across all phases of a hurricane.
Topic of the Month: Undocumented Immigrants, Non-U.S. Citizens, and Disasters
A report recently released by the
Pew Hispanic Center, estimated that there are approximately 11.9 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, a population comprising 4% of the Nation’s population and 5.4% of its workforce. On top of the social, cultural, and linguistic barriers that confront diverse communities in the face of disasters, non-citizens face a series of additional challenges that inhibit them from acting in accordance with emergency warnings and receiving post-disaster recovery services. Past disasters have shown that undocumented immigrants may be reluctant to act in compliance with evacuation orders due to fear of deportation and non-citizens could be wrongfully denied recovery aid due to their immigration status or because they lost important immigration documents. This list of resources is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provide an overview of some of the legal and social issues unique to non-citizens and undocumented immigrants in disasters and provide guidance for public health professionals, emergency managers, lay individuals, and other key stakeholders.
Call for Voices from the Field!
One of the key functions of the National Resource Center is to serve as an exchange portal for information. We would like to extend an invitation to community leaders, public health officials, emergency planners and managers, first responders, and others to share stories from the field. These may highlight best practices, success stories, or lessons learned from your experiences working with racially and ethnically diverse communities across all phases of an emergency. To submit a story from the field CLICK HERE.