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Disaster Experts Available to Respond to Science, Technology, and Health Inquiries From Officials Leading Relief and Recovery Efforts in Haiti

WASHINGTON — Experts affiliated with the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine who specialize in managing emergencies and responding to medical and infrastructure needs before, during, and after disasters are available to answer questions from officials confronting the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

Date: Jan. 27, 2010
Contacts: William Kearney, Media Relations Officer
National Research Council
202-334-2138; e-mail

Three groups in particular include experts who may be able to provide valuable guidance: the Research Council’s Disasters Roundtable; IOM’s Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events; the Research Council’s Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment and the Transportation Research Board.

The Web sites for each of these groups contain the names and biographies of the members who serve on their steering committees and boards. Officials responding to the Haiti earthquake who wish to contact these experts may do so via the Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu. (Journalists who wish to interview these experts also should contact this office.)

Past reports and workshop summaries by the above groups and other parts of the Research Council and IOM also may include information useful to those responding to the disaster in Haiti in the months and years to come. These reports as well as several on earthquake science are available online at http://www.nap.edu/.

The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. It and the IOM provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the NAS in 1863.