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.

What's New

Initiatives

• Promising Practices for Pandemic Planning: Breaking Language Barriers with Preparedness Messages
• At-Risk Populations and Pandemic Influenza: Planning Guidance for State, Territorial, Tribal, and Local Health Departments

 Events

• Sixth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations, Minneapolis, MN
• New Online Training Module: Case Studies in Culture and Health Literacy
• New Webcast Available: Addressing At-Risk Populations in Emergency Preparedness Planning

Publications

• Newspaper Article: County is Not Prepared for Disaster
• Integrating Immigrant Families in Emergency Response, Relief, and Rebuilding Efforts
• Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness Newsletter: Engaging Immigrant Communities in Emergency Preparedness
• Emergency Preparedness Education for the Latino Community Conducted by Health Promoters: A Mini Pilot Study
• Fire 20/20: Multicultural Health Research Project

Topic of the Month: Hurricane Season

With the hurricane season upon us, which officially spans from June 1^st to November 30^th, comes the threat of storms ravaging the Gulf Coast region and Eastern seaboard of the United States. To help mitigate the effects of these storms The National Resource Center has chosen to highlight hurricane season as the Topic of the Month. We will provide current information on preparedness, response, recovery, and reconstruction efforts specific to individual storms as they affect culturally diverse populations and highlight relevant resources from our resource library.

CLICK HERE for a comprehensive list of annotated resources from various fields which focus on the needs of culturally diverse populations across all phases of a hurricane.

Hurricane Ike

As Hurricane Ike barrels through the Gulf Coast region, evacuations begin in Texas.

• Times Topics: Hurricane Ike:  This New York Times feature provides an overview of news and commentary about Hurricane Ike and links to a number of videos and interactive features pertaining to the storm. 

• Listo America has created a Spanish language website containing hurricane preparedness resources and links to the most current information on the projected path of Hurricane Ike.    
• FEMA: President declares emergency for Florida

Hurricane Gustuv

As Hurricane Gustav made its way through the Gulf Coast region various media outlets charted response and recovery efforts targeting culturally diverse populations. Below are links to news articles and initiatives which mention culturally diverse populations and Hurricane Gustav.

• New York Times Editorial- “Never Again, Again”: This editorial describes some of the perceived short fallings of recent evacuation efforts in New Orleans and contains a number of quotes from evacuees.
• FEMA has developed a Hurricane Gustav information hub to provide relevant resources and current information in English and Spanish.

• Latino Workers Decided to Stay During Gustav: This article provides testimonials of why some Hispanic/Latino immigrants failed to heed evacuation orders and precautions some immigrants took to evacuate while avoiding the presence of government officials.  To view the full  article  CLICK  HERE.

• Illegal Immigrants Opted to Stay During Hurricane: This article documents the reluctance of undocumented Hispanic/Latino workers to evacuate New Orleans due to fear of deportation. The article also cites the shortcomings of efforts to disseminate evacuation orders in Spanish. To view the full article CLICK HERE.
• Hurricane Gustav Bears Down on Empty New Orleans: This article cites efforts which were taken in New Orleans to ensure that populations with limited English proficiency were able to understand mandatory evacuation orders. To view the full article CLICK HERE.
• Spanish speaking volunteers are needed to help interpret for Hispanic/Latino hurricane evacuees staying in the Memphis area.  For more information CLICK HERE.
• The organization INCITE is requesting support to help low-income African American women and their families evacuate New Orleans and return to safety. For more information CLICK HERE.

September is National Preparedness Month

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign is sponsoring the fifth annual National Preparedness Month (NPM). The Ready Campaign and over 2,700 coalition members are combining efforts to encourage all Americans to prepare for emergencies. NPM 2008 focuses key practices in emergency preparedness, such as getting an emergency supply kit, making a family emergency plan, being informed, and getting involved. To get the most up to date information on NPM visit the Ready Campaign website or Listo.Gov, the Spanish language version of the site.

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.