Use of the HESPER Web to Assess Perceived Needs Immediately After Multiple Disaster Events in Fiji.

OBJECTIVE: In January 2022, Fiji was hit by multiple natural disasters, including a cyclone causing flooding, an underwater volcanic eruption, and a tsunami. This study aimed to investigate perceived needs among the disaster-affected people in Fiji and to evaluate the feasibility of the Humanitarian Emergency Settings Perceived Needs Scale (HESPER Web) during the early stage after multiple natural disasters. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a self-selected, non-representative study sample was conducted. The HESPER Web was used to collect data. RESULTS: In all, 242 people participated. The number of perceived serious needs ranged between 2 and 14 (out of a possible 26), with a mean of 6 (SD = 3). The top 3 most reported needs were access to toilets (60%), care for people in the community who are on their own (55%), and distress (51%). Volunteers reported fewer needs than the general public. CONCLUSIONS: The top 3 needs reported were related to water and sanitation and psychosocial needs. Such needs should not be underestimated in the emergency phase after natural disasters and may require more attention from responding actors. The HESPER Web was considered a usable tool for needs assessment in a sudden onset disaster.

COVID-19: a review on SARS-CoV-2 origin, epidemiology, virology, clinical manifestations and complications with special emphasis on adverse outcome in Bhopal Gas Tragedy survivor.

After the global outbreak of coronaviruses caused diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an outbreak due to these viruses occurred in December, 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and led to a worldwide spread. Coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) has emerged as a serious global health emergency and spread from a person to another who has the virus. But the scope of an intermediate host is not known. Population at higher risk includes individuals in higher age group (>60 years) or with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and weaker immune system. Many unknown and underestimate risk factors could be responsible for adverse outcomes in COVID-19. These risk factors should be appropriately identified, addressed and necessary actions should be taken to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic. Bhopal gas tragedy was one of the world's worst industrial chemical leak disaster. The survivors of this incident still suffer from the various complications such as increased rate of cancers, chronic illness like tuberculosis, respiratory diseases, birth defects, nerve injury, growth retardations, gynecological illness and many more. The survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy are at higher risk of developing COVID-19 related adverse outcome. One of the possible explanations can be long term effect of methyl isocyanate (MIC). MIC exposure can lead to possible toxic effect on genetic, epigenetic and non-genetic factors. In this review, we aim to establish the scientific basis for adverse outcome in COVID-19 patients who are also victims of Bhopal gas tragedy.

Gone with the Wind.

OBJECTIVE: If the narrative of "coronavirus" has an underlying theme, it may perhaps for some be one of survival, whilst for others, the theme might be suffering. The recurring motif of survival has continued throughout history, yet for the first time the sum of all fears has amounted to a run on the bare essentials. This paper seeks to offer an alternative formulation of "panic buying," with references to literature, philosophy, and contemporary neurobiology. CONCLUSION: The bare essentials disappeared perhaps as part of some self-fulfilling prophecy: the supermarkets became bare because others inadvertently lead us to believe they would become bare. The contagion model of emotional propagation provides a psychological model of how "panic buying" by an individual might lead to the replication of panic in an observer. The Polyvagal Theory further informs us of how the threat posed by the pandemic primes our limbic system to perceive danger, and explains how witnessing others engaging in fight-flight responses might evoke a fearful affect in an observer. In the end, it is perhaps through Nietzsche's study of classical tragedy that we may find some meaning to the pandemic, allowing our collective lived experience to serve as a template for growth.