A recent publication outlines how weather events are becoming more dangerous due to climate change, and often lead to communities being displaced temporarily, or even permanently, which can have serious impacts on health. An article published in the January-February, 2023, issue of the Journal of Climate Change and Health, describes how data can be used as a disaster response tool for first responders and policymakers in response to such disasters.

Andrew Schroeder, Direct Relief’s Vice President of Research and Analysis, is a contributor to the publication, and co-director of CrisisReady, a research-response initiative at Harvard and Direct Relief, supported by grants from the Harvard Data Science Initiative, Google.org, Data for Good at Meta, and the World Bank GFDRR.

“The data needed to make health systems and emergency management approaches more resilient to these hazards, and more responsive to the needs of affected populations, are sequestered in silos across private corporations and public agencies,” the report’s introduction states. “In two case studies, we describe how our research team at CrisisReady negotiated access to privately held and novel data sources like anonymized geolocation data from cell phones while striking a balance between data security and public health utility.”

Read the entire article here: CrisisReady’s novel framework for transdisciplinary translation: Case-studies in wildfire and hurricane response