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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Barbara J. Quiram, PhD¹, Joshua Frances², S. Kay Carpender¹, and Jill J. Artzberger¹. (1) School of Rural Public Health at the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, 1266 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-1266, (2) Center for Public Health Preparedness, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Landmark 3East, Boston, MA 02115, 617-496-1087, francj2@mmc.org

Media coverage primarily focused on the urban areas affected by the three hurricanes (Katrina, Rita and Wilma) that ravaged the Gulf Coast during the 2005 season. Although there was a lack of media coverage related to rural issues, these storms combined to impact rural communities across multiple states. Katrina's strongest winds were directed at the rural coastal region east of New Orleans, including Southern Mississippi. Meanwhile Rita skirted the metropolitan areas of Galveston and Houston, Texas and instead directed her fury on the rural Texas and Louisiana communities further east.

The hurricanes revealed that public health officials responsible for management of emergencies in rural areas should be prepared for two issues: 1) human and property damage inflicted directly on rural communities, and 2) an infrastructure that will support the influx of millions of temporarily homeless urban residents in flight. Following Hurricane Rita, the presenters interviewed a series of key informants including public health officials, emergency management, hospital personnel, and elected officials from rural areas across the Texas Gulf Coast. In addition, state emergency plans and relevant literature were reviewed. This presentation will share lessons learned detailing the impact of mass evacuations from urban areas such as Galveston and Houston, Texas to rural parts of the state following Hurricane Rita. Evacuation planning issues that will be addressed include communication, fuel and transportation, environmental impact, special needs populations, and congested evacuation routes.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Identify key stakeholders necessary for collaboration in rural emergency planning to support urban evacuations.
• Prioritize issues that advance rural emergency planning and policy development that support urban evacuations.
• Discuss future implications for development of rural public health infrastructure that will support urban evacuations.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered