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Online J Public Health InformOnline J Public Health InformOJPHIOnline Journal of Public Health Informatics1947-2579University of Illinois at Chicago Library  ojphi-10-e10810.5210/ojphi.v10i1.8906ISDS 2018 Conference AbstractsDisaster Surveillance: Perspectives from Federal, State, and Local
levels Bakota Eric V. *
1
Atrubin David 
2
Coletta Michael 
3
Kite-Powell Aaron 
3
1 Health Department, Harris County Public Health,
Houston, TX, USA;2 Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee,
FL, USA; 3 CDC, Atlanta,
GA, USA* Eric V. Bakota E-mail: eric.bakota@gmail.com30 5 2018 2018 10 1 e108ISDS Annual Conference Proceedings 2018. This is an Open Access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting
all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.Keywords 
disaster epidemiologyinformaticspreparedness
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Objective
In this panel, attendees will learn about how disaster surveillance was conducted in
response to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, as well as the role of CDC at the federal
level in supporting local response efforts. By hearing and discussing the challenges
faced and solutions identified, attendees will be better able to respond in the
event of a low-frequency/high-consequence disaster occurring within their
jurisdiction.

Introduction
In this panel, the presenters will discuss their perspective in responding to
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Hurricane Harvey made landfall on August 25th and over
the course of 4 days dropped approximately 27 trillion gallons of water on Texas and
Louisiana.1 The flooding that ensued was unprecedented and forced
over 13,000 people into shelters.2 These individuals needed to have their
basic needs -food, shelter, clothing, sanitation- met as well as their physical and
mental health needs. The George R Brown Conference Center (GRB) and NRG Stadium
Center were set up as mega-shelters to house shelterees. Hurricane Irma made
landfall on September 10th in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 Hurricane. The
Hurricane caused 72 deaths3 and forced thousands of people into
shelters.4 These weather events created novel challenges for local
response efforts. Decision makers needed timely and actionable data, including
surveillance data.
==== Refs
References
1 Sanchez R, Yan H, Simon D. Harvey
aftermath: Houston ‘open for business’; other cities suffering.
CNN. 2017 Sep 1.
2 Sullivan K, Hernandez A, Fahrenthold D.
Harvey leaving record rainfall, at least 22 deaths behind in Houston. Chicago
Tribune. 2017 Aug 29.
3 Impact of Hurricane Irma. Boston Globe.
Accessed 2017 Oct 10. https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/bigpicture/2017/09/11/impact-
hurricane-irma/W6WBN9K2lXd4gPmtu26auN/story.html
4 Smith A. After Hurricane Irma, Many Ask:
How Safe Are Shelters? Tampa Bay Times. 2017 September 21.