by Charles Simmins

Created on: February 08, 2009

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are the primary Federal public health agencies and are responsible for a large number of topics in that field, including emergency preparedness. The information provided on their site addresses primarily medical and public health preparedness for individuals, businesses, health care providers, the media and others concerned.

One of the four Health Protections Goals for the CDC is "People Prepared for Emerging Health Threats". That preparedness is one of the four goals of the CDC demonstrates how seriously the topic is taken.

The CDC's Emergency Preparedness and Response site lays out six distinct types of emergencies and links to the content covering preparedness and response for each emergency. Each topic is well documented and links to other Federal agency sites with relevant information are provided. Each site offers a translation ability for a selection of foreign languages.

BIOTERRORISM

The bioterrorism preparedness and response site provides an alphabetical listing of potential bioterrorism agents. There is a section with information for the general public and a larger section with information for professionals, doctors, EMT's, etc.

CHEMICAL EMERGENCIES

A second topic site deals with chemical emergencies. Most chemical emergencies are not terrorism related and this area clearly deals with industrial accidents and spills as well as terrorism. A partial alphabetical listing of chemical agents is provided. There is a section of information for the general public which includes information about evacuations, common in these emergencies. The section for professionals is quite complete, providing medical, emergency management and first responder information.

RADIATION EMERGENCIES

The next topic site is about radiation emergencies. It has the usual sections for the general public and for professionals. It also includes a section specifically addressing the CDC's role in a nuclear or radiological terrorist attack.

MASS CASUALTY EVENT PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

This topic deals with preparedness and response to a terrorist bombing. The information for the general public sections has information about first aid and the potential injuries caused by a bombing. The section for professionals extensively deals with how the health care system will have to react to large numbers of injured people presenting at the same time.

NATURAL DISASTERS AND SEVERE WEATHER

This site deals with the most common type of emergency that we see in the United States, a natural disaster. Ten different disasters are addressed with their own page on the site. The information sections for this topic are broken down differently than in the other topics. There is a section for Preparedness for All Disasters, and one titled Information for Specific Groups.

RECENT OUTBREAKS AND INCIDENTS

The final topic the CDC covers under emergency preparedness is a list with links about current emergencies and related events. If it is in the news, the emergency should be covered in some detail at this topic. Volcanic activity, food poisoning and bird flu are all covered at this topic along with many other recent events and concerns.

The Centers for Disease Control make a wealth of information available about emergency preparedness. It is oriented towards medical and public health issues, but there are related links on each page that take you to sites where other aspects of emergency preparedness are fully explored.

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