Perspectives on research gaps from the differences amongst Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria

Almost three weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, Shultz and Galea published this perspective article on the research gaps learned from Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The article remarks about the common practice in generalizing hurricanes and their potential outcomes. The Hurricanes of 2017 were devastating not just because of the economic damage sowed, but the variations in climatological hazards (i.e., heavy inundation floods, wind storm, land coverage by the storm) where some health systems were afflicted less dramatically than others. Several key preparation issues arose from each affected zone, such as 1) the delays in emergency response to geographically isolated areas due to loss of communication, 2) the concerns about not having pre-disaster baseline data and the difficulties that causes with measuring disaster consequences, 3) the gaps in preparation due to the use of outdated flood hazard information, and 4) the differences in care-seeking behavior within affected communities due to socioeconomic disparities. The article was published at New England Journal of Medicine with an informational interview with Dr. Carmen Zorrilla, who spoke about the population health and health system issues incurred after Hurricane Maria.

Due to copy-right permissions, the perspective article and the interview should be accessed at the source website. Please use the following reference citation and doi to redirect there:
Shultz, JM, Galea, S. Preparing for the next Harvey, Irma, or Maria—addressing research gaps. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(19):1804-1806. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1712854