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Public Health Aspects of Tsunami Relief Discussed

Briefing highlights responses of faculty and others to disaster in Southeast Asia

 

After a major tsunami struck Southeast Asia in December, "many of the affected areas looked like the aftermath of an atomic bombing," said Scott R. Lillibridge, M.D., director of the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Preparedness, during a Feb. 25 briefing on tsunami relief efforts.

Joining Lillibridge at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston were U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas); S. Ward Casscells, M.D., the UT Health Science Center at Houston's vice president for biotechnology; and Gallery Furniture owner and philanthropist Jim McIngvale.

DeLay thanked Lillibridge, Casscells and James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center, for efforts of individuals from the health science center to aid in worldwide public health work. He also discussed efforts to protect the tsunami region's children from child abuse and trafficking.

Lillibridge spoke of his work in Indonesia's western Sumatra region with the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. This agency supported the World Health Organization's rapid health assessment of the affected population throughout the entire affected western coastline of Sumatra. His team traveled throughout the stricken area by foot and helicopter to assess the immediate lifesaving needs of the victims for the purpose of better directing the relief effort.

"We would arrive at sites where crowded pockets of people had survived the tsunami and had created temporary shelters out of the debris," Lillibridge said. "In many sites the rice crop was destroyed, the fishing industry was destroyed, and all structures were leveled. In addition, the effects of the tsunami destroyed all of the sources of potable drinking water and all of the sanitation facilities, posing a great public health risk to the surviving population and requiring immediate intervention by the relief community."

Casscells, who is the John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor in Cardiology, traveled to Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand, visiting health-care facilities to monitor posttsunami susceptibility to various strains of influenza. Casscells was impressed by the care being given in very diffi- cult circumstances. He saw a tremendous number of infected leg wounds being taken care of in small hospitals.

"The survivors arrived there with wounds already infected," Casscells said. "When the tsunami struck, ankle- to waist-deep water stayed inland. For the first few days, survivors waded through the water, looking for family members. Their legs were injured by hidden debris and then infected by e. coli, for example."

DeLay spoke about the Humanitarian Assistance Code of Conduct Act of 2005, which he and others introduced in the House of Representatives. It prohibits the obligation of funds to any organization that fails to adopt a code of conduct protecting beneficiaries of U.S. humanitarian relief operations from sexual exploitation and abuse.

The bill passed the House of Representatives on March 3 and was sent to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

McIngvale, who is helping to lead a private effort to raise $100 million in relief funds, spoke about his belief that, from those to whom much has been given, much is expected. He praised the work of those at the health science center and Texas Medical Center who use their talents to help those affected by the tsunami.

The educational briefing was sponsored by the Student Epidemic Intelligence Society at the School of Public Health.

By Pamela Lewis, Public Affairs