Living in a Multi-Risk Chaotic Condition: Pandemic, Natural Hazards and Complex Emergencies.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 17(16)2020 08 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-695787
ABSTRACT
Humans are living in an uncertain world, with daily risks confronting them from various low to high hazard events, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created its own set of unique risks. Not only has it caused a significant number of fatalities, but in combination with other hazard sources, it may pose a considerably higher multi-risk. In this paper, three hazardous events are studied through the lens of a concurring pandemic. Several low-probability high-risk scenarios are developed by the combination of a pandemic situation with a natural hazard (e.g., earthquakes or floods) or a complex emergency situation (e.g., mass protests or military movements). The hybrid impacts of these multi-hazard situations are then qualitatively studied on the healthcare systems, and their functionality loss. The paper also discusses the impact of pandemic's (long-term) temporal effects on the type and recovery duration from these adverse events. Finally, the concept of escape from a hazard, evacuation, sheltering and their potential conflict during a pandemic and a natural hazard is briefly reviewed. The findings show the cascading effects of these multi-hazard scenarios, which are unseen nearly in all risk legislation. This paper is an attempt to urge funding agencies to provide additional grants for multi-hazard risk research.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Disaster Planning
/
Mass Casualty Incidents
/
Natural Disasters
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph17165635
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