Improving emergency preparedness practices among students in south Georgia

In Georgia, especially in coastal Georgia, the residents are at higher risk of being impacted by natural disasters such as hurricanes (with at least one episode per year). Hurricanes, floods, drought, earthquakes, and other weather-related emergencies are life-threatening events, and many people are not aware of existing information on how to prepare and respond to emergency situations. This project aims to promote awareness, preparedness, education, training, and safety coordination to improve responses to natural disasters and local emergencies among Georgia Southern University students. In collaboration with the University’s Emergency Management team, this project will provide evidence-based information about emergency preparedness and response (preparedness, mitigation, recovery, and response) through MedlinePlus, Water Emergency Response for Libraries, and Health Information to all students, especially those coming from racial and ethnic minority populations, LGBTQIA+ populations, populations reported below the Federal Poverty Level, populations with limited access to medical care, soldiers, veterans and military families, and rural and urban populations, demonstrating in this way principles of accessibility, cultural competency, and inclusivity. This project will contribute to the mission of the National Library of Medicine and the Network of the National Library of Medicine to improve public health by improving students' access to libraries, information services, technology for health information, and high-quality information, enabling them to make informed decisions. This project will train students to find disaster health, emergency preparedness and response information resources, and provide education and professional development on disaster preparedness and response topics.