Disaster Preparedness Expert Dr. Irwin Redlener to Speak at BEA

Dr. Irwin Redlener

Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness and co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, will participate in the panel discussion "Coping With Disaster: What to Do When Catastrophe Strikes," as part of the American Booksellers Association's programming on Saturday, May 20, at BookExpo America. Redlener is the author of Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Need to Do Now, coming from Knopf this fall.

A pediatrician, Redlener coordinated mobile medical units in both New York City after the 9/11 attacks and in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after the devastation of last years' hurricanes. In a front page article in the April 18 edition of the New York Times about families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who lack proper health care and who are suffering from mental disorders and chronic conditions like asthma and anxiety, Redlener said of the long-term consequences, "Children do not have the ability to absorb six or nine months of high levels of stress and undiagnosed or untreated medical problems."

At BEA, Redlener will be joining fellow panelists Robert Block and Christopher Cooper, authors of the forthcoming Disaster: Hurricane Katrina & the Failure of Homeland Security (Henry Holt), and Scott Naugle, owner of Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, Mississippi, to talk about the hurricanes' devastation and what it means for America, as well as to offer concrete suggestions for disaster-preparedness.

Redlener told BTW that he has wanted to write a book on disaster-preparedness since 9/11. "Hurricane Katrina just reinforced the idea and helped to accelerate it," he said, adding that he approached Americans at Risk not as a policy wonk but as a physician who works directly with children and preventative health issues. The book details eight disaster scenarios that envision what the U.S. might face in the future, what the current system would and would not prepare us for, and what would constitute optimal planning, on local and national levels, in each situation.

"My experience has been very direct and personal in the Gulf Coast and in New York after 9/11," said Redlener. "This has shaped my perspective substantially." He noted that both his book and his role on the panel "will not be the usual discussion of preparedness issues, but more practical in terms of how we should continue from this point forward."

Redlener plans to discuss "how we balance the growing specter of threats that seem to be increasing in our world, with the necessity for not having our lives overtaken with disaster obsession." He is also eager to address booksellers' questions. "I'd very much like to discuss what people are concerned about," he said. "I'd like to talk about what happens when someone is personally affected by disaster, and what we need to do to be prepared."

"Coping With Disaster: What to Do When Catastrophe Strikes" will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, in Room 150A of the Washington Convention Center. --Karen Schechner