Severe Earthquakes Case Discussion
Severe Earthquakes Case Discussion
1. In a 3-4 page paper, please answer the following questions. In addition to the researched facts you present as your answer, you may provide opinions and real-world experiences where appropriate.
Scenario: A severe earthquake just occurred in your area. Homes, public services (such as power, water, and trash removal), and many lives have been lost. Full evacuation is not likely. Living conditions in local shelters have become crowded and unhygienic. The hospital generators have failed and the morgue is full. At this rate, communicable disease begins to threaten the health of the residents. Luckily, you are a healthcare professional specializing in epidemiology and can help the community make plans to survive until they can rebuild.
Please review any applicable pages in the WHO guide listed below. The tables on pages 11 and 170 will be particularly helpful in this scenario.
Imagine and describe the living conditions or other characteristics of the disaster situation in your locale. What kind of damage occurred as a result of the earthquake? If you are near an ocean, was there a tsunami? Fire, flooding, or even nuclear fallout could be at play depending on the characteristics of your locale. Take inventory of the public services in your community that are still available and those that have been lost.
After conducting research into the threat of disease in a disaster situation, describe which specific communicable diseases pose the greatest threat to your area. In what ways could those diseases arise from the damaged infrastructure, living conditions, and disruption in facilities or services?
Prepare a brief report to be delivered to local authorities including specific actions that should be taken to prevent disease. What are the priorities, equipment, personnel, or other factors needed to prevent the loss of more lives?
The Written Assignment should be 3-4 double spaced pages in length, not including title or reference pages. (No abstract is needed.) Make sure your assignment is APA format with double-spacing, Times New Roman, 12-point font, and 1” margins. Include citations and a list of references in APA format. Edit for spelling and grammar errors. You can get assistance with APA formatting at: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
Resources to get you started:
Environmental health in emergencies and disasters: A practical guide, Pages 9-22, 168-174http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/42561/1/9241545410_eng.pdf
Cholera Confirmed in Haiti, October 21, 2010https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5943a4.htm
Assessment Criteria
Papers will be assessed on how well the 3 points above are addressed. In addition, papers will be graded on organization, grammar, and APA formatting.
2. Who are your playmates?
In a 400-600 word answer, properly cited with an APA-formatted reference list and in-text citations, please answer the following questions. In addition to the researched facts you present as your answer, you may provide opinions and real-world experiences where appropriate.
Read the study and supporting information published by Simon Cauchemez, et al. provided in the resources section below. What criteria did the authors set as the clinical definition of a case? What were the specific symptoms included in that definition? The study was affected by a limitation in relation to the method of defining a case. What was the limitation and how might it affect the data or usefulness of the study results?
The structure of the school into grade levels, including more than one class per grade level, had an impact on child-to-child transmission rates. According to the data provided, contrast the probabilities of between-class (same grade, different classroom) transmission and within-class (same grade, same classroom) transmission. How does the transmission rate among students in the same grade level compare to that among students in different grade levels? Please provide specific transmission rates and an explanation of these results.
During the outbreak, a pattern in the onset of infection in boys versus girls emerged. Figure 1C of the full report reveals a group of boys became infected a few days before a group of girls. What characteristic of the social network is thought to account for this pattern? Please provide specific data from the report to support your answer.
What appears to account for the increase in cases after May 7 as shown in Figure 1? Which activities that the 4th graders attended on May 6 or May 7 may have contributed to an increase in transmission (superspread)?
Based on the results provided in the example, what measures could have been put in place to disrupt the transmission of the virus, if any?
Resources to get you started:
Role of social networks in shaping disease transmission during a community outbreak of 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenzahttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3041067/pdf/pnas.201008895.pdf
Role of social networks in shaping disease transmission during a community outbreak of 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza, Supporting Informationhttp://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2011/01/29/1008895108.DCSupplemental/pnas.201008895SI.pdf#nameddest=STXT
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
