title: Geological hazards: from early warning systems to public health toolkits.
abstract: Extreme geological events, such as earthquakes, are a significant global concern and sometimes their consequences can be devastating. Geographic information plays a critical role in health protection regarding hazards, and there are a range of initiatives using geographic information to communicate risk as well as to support early warning systems operated by geologists. Nevertheless we consider there to remain shortfalls in translating information on extreme geological events into health protection tools, and suggest that social scientists have an important role to play in aiding the development of a new generation of toolkits aimed at public health practitioners. This viewpoint piece reviews the state of the art in this domain and proposes potential contributions different stakeholder groups, including social scientists, could bring to the development of new toolkits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St. Dunstan׳s Road, London W6 8RP, United Kingdom. Electronic address: e.samarasundera@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Samarasundera
authors.affiliation: Small Area Health Statistics Unit, MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, St. Mary׳s Campus, W2 1PG, United Kingdom; Imperial College NHS Trust, The Bays, South Wharf Road, St Mary׳s Hospital, London W2 1NY, United Kingdom. Electronic address: a.hansell@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hansell
authors.affiliation: Nottingham Geospatial Institute, University of Nottingham, Triumph Road, Nottingham NG7 2TU, United Kingdom. Electronic address: ngi@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leibovici
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom. Electronic address: claire.horwell@durham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Claire J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Horwell
authors.affiliation: Nottingham Geospatial Institute, University of Nottingham, Triumph Road, Nottingham NG7 2TU, United Kingdom. Electronic address: ngi@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Suchith
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, United Kingdom. Electronic address: clive.oppenheimer@geog.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Clive
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oppenheimer
mesh_terms: D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet; D011634:Public Health; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: GIS; Geology; Internet; Natural environment; World Wide Web