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Shelter


  As the evacuees enter the designated sites after leaving their homes, they have to check in with the officials in charge of tracking survivors. After that, they will be assigned to their temporary shelters. These shelters, in Micronesia, are essentially large barrack tents where each person will have a 3.5 square meters of floor space for sleeping or at least 10 meters squared of airspace1. Because each village will have its designated location, mass temporary shelters should not cause any large social problems. In the case of Peru, the evacuees will be sheltered in stadiums, hotels and college campuses. In stadiums large barrack tents will be set up to provide temporary shelter for evacuees. On university campuses, evacuees will occupy areas designed to hold many people like stadiums, courts, fields, and dorms. Hotels and willing households will also provide shelter for evacuees.
  All evacuees are to remain in evacuation sites until all danger of a tsunami has passed. The evacuation camp official will be notified of areas that are safe to return after damage assessment has been made. This information will be announced to the evacuees. Those whose homes were not affected by the tsunami are encouraged to return2. If their home is deemed unsafe and uninhabitable, citizens are to continue living in the evacuation sites.

Medical Treatment


  The primary medical treatment centers will consist of existing hospitals and clinics. If such establishments are not at an accessible distance, field medical units will be deployed to immediately treat traumatic injuries in the first 48 hours2.
  All medical wastes must be collected and kept in secure stainless steel bins until proper disposal procedures can be followed. Field hospitals in disaster areas tend to generate human wastes (i.e. blood, bodily fluids) and chemical wastes (i.e. formalin, formaldehyde, phenol)3. These wastes pose some environmental and health risks and need to be properly disposed. Disposal Methods outlined by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) will be met.
  At the medical treatment center, the Health Relief Coordinator or an experienced medical professional will be in charged of the coordination efforts for handling the dead. Contrary to common beliefs, dead bodies do not pose a serious health risk, especially in the case of a tsunami, where most deaths result from drowning and physical injuries sustained during the rapid displacement of water3. The dead will be transported to hospital morgues or field morgues for identification and temporary storage. If morgues are over capacity, refrigerated trucks may need to be used for temporary storage of bodies3. In Peru, the Legal Medicine Institute of Peru will hold primary responsibility for identifying bodies of victims3. However, international aid may be necessary depending on the magnitude of the situation. All efforts must be taken to identify bodies. Accordingly, families will be allowed to conduct appropriate mortuary customs. If bodies cannot be identified, they will be buried into individual graves. Mass graves and cremations will not be allowed for they go against basic human rights2.

Food and Water


  Once the tsunami warning is activated, emergency personnel such as administrators, cooks, security officials, and other workers (see section in Preparation) will report to the evacuation centers to be prepared for the evacuees. These workers will be financially compensated in the case of false alarms, so that they will report for the real disaster. In Micronesia, the locally stored food will already be at the evacuation centers, but in Peru where the centers are in pre-existing complexes, trucks will take the locally stored food to the centers.
  The evacuation centers must immediately start distributing food and water. Prepared food will be given out since the evacuees will not have any cooking implements, and for this very initial stage, serving food is cleaner and more efficient than trying to distribute stoves and rations. Thus, each evacuation location will set up one mass-feeding center for every 1000 people. The center can serve 1000 people every hour with 2 supervisors, 4 cooks, 8 assistant cooks, 24 helpers, 12 servers, and 4 to 6 garbage collectors4. Previously stored bottled water will be distributed, making sure that each person in a household receives 3 liters of water per day2.
   1. WHO (2002) Environmental Health in Emergencies and Disaster: A Practical Guide. World Health Organization 2002, Geneva, Switzerland.
   2. Sphere Project (2004) Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. Sphere Project 2004, Geneva, Switzerland.
   3. CDC (2005, January 14) Disposing of Liquid Waste from Autopsies in Tsunami-Affected Areas: Interim Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 23, 2005 from http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/tsunamis/pdf/tsunami-autopsyliquidwaste.pdf
   4. Masefield, G. B. (1967). Food and nutrition procedures in times of disaster. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.