OBJECTIVES To examine whether disaster-related variables, in addition to known work-related risk factors, influence burnout and its subscales (exhaustion, cynicism, and lack of professional efficacy) among public servants who experienced a major disaster. METHODS Cross-sectional studies were conducted among public servants of Miyagi prefecture at 2 and 16 months after the Great East Japan Ear...

1. Disaster Medicine Section, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts USA 2. Division of Disaster Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts USA 3. Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts USA 4. The Operational Medicine Institute, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians, Boston, Massachusetts USA 5. Kennedy S...

As Editors-in-Chief, and on behalf of our distinguished Editorial Board, we are thrilled to welcome you to this inaugural issue of Disaster Health. Disaster Health is uniquely focused on the intersection of disaster mental and behavioral health and disaster public health. In this multi-disciplinary arena, scientific advances are accelerating. Disaster Health provides a mechanism for expeditious...

With recent advances in wireless communication and low-power miniaturized biomedical sensor and semiconductor technologies, wireless body area networks (WBAN) has become an integral part of the disaster aid system. Wearable vital sign sensors can track patients’status and location, thus enhancing disaster rescue efficiency. In the past few years, most of the literatures in the area of disaster ...

1 The Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015–2030 highlights concerns on human health and well-being that are common to disaster risk reduction, climate change and sustainable development. 2 A substantial emphasis on health is a welcome development, given the relative lack of attention to health issues in its predecessor, the Hyogo framework for action 2005–2015. 3 The Hyogo framewor...

Internet of Things (IoTs) based prototype is used for disaster risk analysis and effective pre and post management of disaster stricken areas. Data mining techniques along with IoT are used to facilitate information sharing as early as possible and to ensure participation of as many as private and public service providers for major disaster prediction and recovery processes. The main challenge ...

Behavioral economics is based on the idea that individuals' decisions are affected by systematic and predictable cognitive biases and that these same biases can be leveraged to change behavior and improve decision-making. Insights from behavioral economics have been used to encourage a range of desired behaviors but have rarely been used in disaster preparedness and response, though traditional...

After a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck north-eastern Japan in March 2011, the public health system, including the infectious disease surveillance system, was severely compromised. While models for post-disaster surveillance exist, they focus predominantly on developing countries during the early recovery phase. Such models do not necessarily apply to developed countries, which differ...