Results for: Vulnerable Populations

This February marked two years since Texans were hit with widespread power outages during the deep freeze of 2021. The state’s energy supply chain was unable to withstand the sustained low temperatures, as generation resources were strained due to cold weather tripping units, natural gas supply curtailments, and wind power generation outages. The weeks-long outages …

Continue reading “Disaster Response and Equity: Reflecting on the Racial Disparities in Texas Power Outages”

By: Gregory R. Witkowski and Jeffrey Schlegelmilch This piece was originally published on April 7, 2020, in The Hill. This pandemic, so pervasive it seems dreamed up in Hollywood, can lead to a feeling of helplessness as we sit at home doing our best to practice social distancing. If you are feeling like you want …

Continue reading “Feeling helpless at home? Try giving”

As the United States enters its second month of widespread closure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments across the country continue to rely on stay-at-home orders to stem the spread of the virus. However, for the millions of Americans who lack access to safe, stable, and affordable housing, staying at home …

Continue reading “Housing Protections are an Essential Part of COVID-19 Response and Recovery”

As the world scrambles each week to grapple with the seemingly insurmountable number of positive cases and deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic, public policy is failing some of America’s most vulnerable communities. Although COVID-19 has been called the “great equalizer” on different media platforms, the data tell a different story. The Centers for Disease Control …

Continue reading “Racial Disparities and COVID-19”

[Español abajo] As the world grapples with the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are catching sight of an additional public health emergency: domestic violence and child abuse. Restricted movement and mounting stress cultivate conditions for more frequent and more dangerous violence in the home. Rising rates of violence prompt the need for new approaches …

Continue reading “Domestic Violence Amid COVID-19: A Hidden Epidemic”

This piece was originally published on October 11, 2018, in The Hill As Hurricane Michael moves further inland, bringing torrential rains and high winds with it, those who were most vulnerable before the storm are going to need the most assistance in its aftermath. This is a mantra that is relevant to hurricanes and other …

Continue reading “As Hurricane Michael moves inland, public data can help the most vulnerable”

Project Overview At the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, we have an extensive history of developing and applying research to meet the unique needs of children in disasters. Although our focus has mostly been domestic, we have been involved in many international disasters and crises. Last summer our director, …

Continue reading “Children in Crisis: Supporting Parents and Caregivers of Syrian Refugee Children”

This post was originally published on June 28, 2018, in the Daily Beast. The bandwagon of child care and health professionals who have characterized the federal government’s forced separation of migrant children from their parents as “child abuse by government” is overflowing. It would indeed be difficult to concoct a more traumatizing experience for already …

Continue reading “Pediatrician: If I Saw a Child Mistreated Like ICE Is Doing, I’d Call the Authorities”

This post was originally published on March 7, 2018 in the Washington Post. In many ways my trip last month to Flint, Mich. — now the symbolic epicenter of how bad decisions, bad politics and ill-advised money-saving measures can seriously and permanently harm children — was more depressing than the first time I visited that …

Continue reading “We still haven’t made things right in Flint”

Exposure and Vulnerability Large-scale disasters are physically dangerous, highly stressful and economically devastating for communities and the people who inhabit them. The trauma and stress associated with the initial event, however, may persist through the immediate response phase and throughout a prolonged recovery. The impact of such catastrophic events is particularly challenging for vulnerable populations …

Continue reading “Launching The Children’s Disaster Resiliency & Recovery Program (CDRR)”

This post was originally published on November 7, 2016 in The Hill Congress blog. In 2010 our center, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, published findings based on research conducted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina describing children as the “bellwethers” of disaster recovery. To put it simply, if one …

Continue reading “Resilient Children/Resilient Communities: A Roadmap for National Disaster Resilience”

It has long made sense to promote individual, family, and community resilience, but the notion of being “prepared” took on new urgency in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. America grappled with the possibility of more complex, large-scale attacks devised and operationalized by nefarious and powerful organizations based in other regions of the world. The …

Continue reading “The Changing Nature of Terrorism: What You Need to Know Now”

Where is the international community as million of children grow up fleeing violence, bombarded by extremism, and lacking even the most basic rights? Try wrapping your mind around some numbers just coming to light from reports issued by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) last week: Nearly 2.5 million Syrian children are being kept …

Continue reading “How the World is Failing a Generation of Lost Kids”