Response to Joseph Do
Your article correctly points out how David Eisenmans quote highlights the relatively long-term impacts of a disaster in terms of chronic disease emergency. As evident in the case of the COVID-19 global pandemic, disasters worsen current emergencies and exacerbate chronic conditions (Bates, 2019). While the pandemic has contributed to subsequent death, its effect on the treatment of chronic diseases is an example of how natural disasters worsen chronic medical conditions. This is primarily because natural disasters create psychological and emotional burdens associated with their physical impacts and damage to property. However, your article failed to highlight the fact that the pandemic worsened an already existing challenge relating to chronic medical conditions in the U.S. Prior to the pandemic, the country was already facing challenges relating to chronic diseases. Similar to other disasters, the psychological and emotional effects of COVID-19 worsened this problem. Disasters essentially generate chronic disease emergencies through generating psychological/emotional burdens and straining healthcare systems.
Response to Luke Whittemore
As noted by J. Brian Houston, the outcomes of a disaster are significantly influenced by socioeconomic conditions. I agree with your view that even though natural disasters or emergencies do not differentiate between the rich and the poor, their outcomes disproportionately affect people based on socioeconomic conditions. People in lower socioeconomic classes tend to be more affected by the outcomes of a disaster compared to the rich. This is demonstrated in the case of COVID-19 where rich people have better access to safety measures in comparison to the poor. Additionally, rich/developed countries received COVID-19 vaccines more quickly than developing countries. However, your article does not highlight how rich people are sometimes more affected by the outcome of a disaster than the poor. For instance, in the midst of COVID-19, some rich people have suffered huge losses in their businesses compared to poor people. Therefore, the idea that the outcomes following a disaster are influenced by socioeconomic conditions is not true in all emergency situations.
Reference
Bates, M. (2019). Natural disasters and public health. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://www.embs.org/pulse/articles/natural-disasters-and-public-health/
