Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105600

Wayne Westhoff, PhD¹, Jaime Wilke, MPH², and Robert Tabler, MPH¹. (1) College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 56, Tampa, FL 33612-3805, (813) 974-6621, wwesthof@hsc.usf.edu, (2) School of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa, FL 33612

When the immediate needs of food, water and shelter are satisfied, when outbreaks of disease have been headed off, and when the emergency has dropped off the front page, our leaders and the media often declare the humanitarian operation a success and move along to the next problem. What we seldom hear about is what has happened to the population years later. The purpose of this study was to conduct a household survey among hurricane survivors five years after the disaster to measure the economic impact on the family. Over three hundred interviews were conducted in two camps in the Dominican Republic where twenty-four hundred families resided after Hurricane George. With collaboration between the International Red Cross and a local non-governmental organization data were collected over a three month period. Results revealed some surprising data. For example, most households were economically better off today than they were before the hurricane. The camps lacked basic infrastructure (i.e., running water, transportation) yet were developed by the government in locations where the people were safe and could transform their surroundings into a new community. This study gives insight to how a disaster may be advantageous and can actually change a poor community living along a flood plan into a community with hope for the future.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the complexity of a disaster and the economic consequences.
• Discuss how economics drives the continual existance of refugee camps.
• Learn a method of conducting a door-to-door survey in a refugee camp.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.