ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
FIGURE 2
Timeline of Select Response and Recovery Activities of the Emergency Management Unit
Hurricane Season: Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina Warehouse Fire : West Virginia Water Contamination: Oklahoma Refinery Fire: Wisconsin
Wildfire : N ew M exico COVID-19 : Global Wildfires : Oregon E arthquakes : Puerto Rico Tank E xplosion : Texas Water Contamination: Missouri
COVID-19 : Global Hurricanes Season: Florida, Puerto Rico Wildfire Recovery : New Mexico Ukraine Regional Response Water C ontamination: Mississippi Flooding : Kentucky
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
COVID-19 : Global Hurricane Season: Louisiana Water Contamination: South Carolina Train Derailment: Illinois Chem ical Fire : Illinois Warehouse Fire : Illinois Air Quality : North Carolina Water Contamination : Hawaii
Hurricane Season: Maine Winter Storms : California Train Derailment : Ohio Facility Fire : Indiana Typhoon Mawar : Guam Wildfire Smoke : National Water Contamination : U.S. Virgin Islands
Landfill Fire : Georgia Water Contamination: U.S. Virgin Islands V olcano Eruption : New Zealand Facility Fire: Texas Ammonia Spill: Illinois Barge Collision : Texas Refinery Fire : Pennsylvania
Hurricanes Season: Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands Plant Explosion : Kansas
Note. The timeline shows all the incidents where individuals from the Emergency Management Unit provided some amount of technical assistance or expertise.
National Centers for Environmental Informa- tion. (2023). Billion-dollar weather and cli- mate disasters: Overview . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https:// www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/ U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2016). National Disaster Recovery Frame- work (2nd ed.). https://www.fema.gov/ sites/default/files/2020-06/national_disa ster_recovery_framework_2nd.pdf U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2019). National Response Framework (4th ed.). https://www.fema.gov/sites/ default/files/2020-04/NRF_FINALAp proved_2011028.pdf U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2023a). National Oil and Hazardous Sub- stances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) overview . https://www.epa.gov/emergency- response/national-oil-and-hazardous-sub stances-pollution-contingency-plan-ncp- overview U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2023b). Superfund: CERCLA overview . https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund- cercla-overview
coordination of capabilities across NCEH, ATSDR, and additional programs within CDC to respond in a more all-hazards approach. To provide the needed support to aected jurisdictions, EMU works collab- oratively with NCEH and ATSDR regional oces to coordinate virtual or in-person technical assistance for environmental emergencies by collaborating with experts in environmental health science, STLT coordination, epidemiology, health surveil- lance, infectious disease, medical toxicology, data and geospatial science, worker safety, health communications, and health equity. By coordinating through a large variety of capabilities and working with regional sta, EMU has been able to work in this new all- hazards approach to respond in a timely and eective way to a wider range of incidents. Conclusion EMU has changed the way it approaches disasters and enhanced coordination of response and recovery capabilities, making it more than ever ready to assist the nation in any encounter. This capacity allows CDC and ATSDR to be a trusted source of support when an environmental crisis occurs.
Corresponding Author: Maraia Tremarelli, Health Scientist and Emergency Operations Specialist, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1648 Gilstrap Lane NW, Atlanta, GA 30318. Email: mtremarelli@cdc.gov. References Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (2018). ATSDR background and congressional mandates . https://www.atsdr. cdc.gov/about/congress.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Indicator: Toxic substance releases . https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/indicatorPages? selectedContentAreaAbbreviation=21&sele ctedIndicatorId=102&selectedMeasureId= Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. § 9604 (1980). https://www.con gress.gov/96/statute/STATUTE-94/STAT UTE-94-Pg2767.pdf de Ruiter, M.C., Couasnon, A., van den Homberg, M.J.C., Daniell, J.E., Gill, J.C., & Ward, P.J. (2020). Why we can no lon- ger ignore consecutive disasters. Earth’s Future , 8 (3), e2019EF001425. https://doi. org/10.1029/2019ef001425
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Volume 86 • Number 8
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