In an immediate and substantial manner, numerous Johns
Hopkins affiliates have come to the aid of survivors of the
South Asian tsunami that to date has claimed the lives of
more than 140,000 people. In Indonesia alone, roughly
500,000 survivors have been left homeless, and it's
projected that 5 million people in a dozen countries will
ultimately be impacted by the natural disaster that struck
on Dec. 26.
In a
broadcast message last week,
President William R. Brody outlined
the university's tsunami response and the importance of
Johns Hopkins employees doing what they could for
survivors.
"The Indian Ocean tsunami may well be the most
destructive natural catastrophe of our lifetimes. The toll
is staggering, not only in fatalities but also in injury,
homelessness, infrastructure damage and disruption to
developing societies that already were in some ways far
more fragile than our own. The potential is also immense
for additional human misery, caused not directly by flood
waters but by illness, starvation and lack of safe drinking
water," Brody said. "Given the vast scope of the disaster,
I have been pleased, though not surprised, to learn that a
number of us at Johns Hopkins are responding with
assistance, expertise and generous financial support."
Three Emergency Department nurses from
Bayview Medical
Center, Brian Wahl, Emily Seay and Audrey Rutkowski,
departed last week for a month-long relief mission that
will take them first to Jakarta and then to remote regions
of Indonesia. This group will join a team led by Alex Vu,
an instructor of
Emergency Medicine at the School of Medicine, who left
for Indonesia on Jan. 4 to provide direct medical relief to
disaster victims and assist with establishing a
surveillance system to monitor infectious disease and
injuries resulting from the disaster.
A group of
School of Medicine faculty of Sri Lankan descent is
preparing to go to Sri Lanka as part of an International
Medical Health Organization team. Among those coordinating
the program are Arjun Chanmugam, the residency program
director in Emergency Medicine, Ananda Kumar of the
Radiology Department and Ruben Amarasingham of Internal
Medicine. Faculty leading the group's efforts are Gregg
Greenough and Chayan Dey. Ken Grant and Bob Feroli of JHHS
are assisting this team. Johns Hopkins Medicine will
contribute drugs and medical supplies to the team's
mission.
The Bloomberg School
of Public Health is working on several fronts to
respond to the tsunami disaster. CIEDRS — the
school's Center for International Emergency, Disaster and
Refugee Studies — has personnel working on relief
efforts in Indonesia, is deploying a team of emergency
physicians and nurses to work with the International Rescue
Committee, is assisting Project HOPE in planning its
response efforts and is coordinating with other relief
agencies on the ground to explore additional means of
assistance. In the past, the school has trained 170 public
health officials from South Asia in a disaster management
course. One such course was completed just months ago.
As part of its core mission, CIEDRS, a cooperative
academic program conducted by SOM's Department of Emergency
Medicine and SPH's Department of International Health,
provides technical assistance to NGOs, United Nations
agencies and local governments in the wake of both
human-generated and natural disasters. In that context, the
center is sending faculty member Earl Wall and master of
public health student Brian Crawford to assist in public
health assessments in Aceh, Indonesia.
Gilbert Burnham, director of CIEDRS, said that it's
vital that the response to the disaster be both swift and
sustained.
"The current crisis can make people forget that there
is a long and undramatic rebuilding process in the years
ahead. This is when the big money will need to continue to
flow," said Burnham, an associate professor of
international health. "But based on previous disasters, the
world's attention will soon shift to other dramas, and the
rebuilding process will struggle along not completely
getting done, and without the big changes which disaster
rebuilding makes possible."
Many School of Public Health faculty, alumni and
students were in the countries swept by the tsunamis and
have remained there to aid survivors. As of press time, no
Johns Hopkins affiliates were known to have been killed or
injured.
In a Dec. 30 letter to school colleagues, School of
Public Health Dean Alfred Sommer voiced how important it is
for an institution dedicated to global health to help
mitigate the tsunami's impact on human lives.
"We know that the faculty, alumni and students of the
School of Public Health who are currently in these
countries are doing their utmost to aid survivors; prevent
outbreaks of malaria, meningitis, dengue fever and
diarrheal diseases; and help provide long-term solutions to
the many challenges to be faced in the coming months,"
Sommer said.
JHPIEGO, a
JHU-affiliated international health organization, has
personnel who are currently helping reestablish health care
services in affected regions, and members of its staff are
among the aid workers deployed by the Indonesian government
to assess conditions in the battered Aceh Province.
Johns Hopkins alumni are also deeply involved in the
relief effort, including Jose Ravano, a SAIS and SPH
graduate who is being sent to coordinate CARE's relief
efforts in Sri Lanka, and Sunil Solomon, a recent School of
Public Health alum who is coordinating the work of School
of Public Health researchers who have been in Chennai,
India, focused on the development of HIV/AIDS prevention.
The group will conduct a situational assessment of the
needs of three Chennai communities in the wake of the
disaster. They already have provided medical care,
clothing, essential household supplies, clean water and
food to those in the most need. In addition, the group is
working to raise funds in order to provide shelter for and
help re-equip each family who has experienced total
loss.
Closer to home, faculty from
SAIS,
Engineering,
Public Health and
other divisions have been working with the news media to
help the public better understand the disaster and its
implications.
At SAIS, fund-raising efforts have been begun by both
the Southeast Asia Studies program, which will support
relief efforts in Thailand and Indonesia, and the South
Asia Studies program, which will direct funds to the
fisherman community in Sri Lanka. To date, the two groups
have raised more than $5,000.
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