title: Notes from the Field: Ebola Virus Disease Response Activities During a Mass Displacement Event After Flooding--Freetown, Sierra Leone, September-November, 2015.
abstract: Since the start of the Ebola virus disease (Ebola) outbreak in West Africa, Sierra Leone has reported 8,706 confirmed Ebola cases and 3,956 deaths. During September 15-16, 2015, heavy rains flooded the capital, Freetown, resulting in eight deaths, home and property destruction, and thousands of persons in need of assistance. By September 27, approximately 13,000 flood-affected persons registered for flood relief services from the government. On September 17, two stadiums in Freetown were opened to provide shelter and assistance to flood-affected residents; a total of approximately 3,000 persons stayed overnight in both stadiums (Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, personal communication, September 2015). On the same day the stadiums were opened to flood-affected persons, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) and Western Area Ebola Response Center (WAERC) staff members from CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the African Union evaluated the layout, logistics, and services at both stadiums and identified an immediate need to establish Ebola response activities. The patient in the last Ebola case in the Western Area, which includes Freetown, had died 37 days earlier, on August 11; however, transmission elsewhere in Sierra Leone was ongoing, and movement of persons throughout the country was common.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ratto
authors.forename: Wade
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ivy
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Purfield
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bangura
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Omoko
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Boateng
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duffy
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sims
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Beamer
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pi-Sunyer
authors.forename: Sarian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamara
authors.forename: Sulaiman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Conteh
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Redd
mesh_terms: D004190:Disasters; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055868:Floods; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012499:Sanitation / Q000592:standards; D012807:Sierra Leone / Q000453:epidemiology