Population Monitoring in Radiation Emergencies: A Guide for State and Local Public Health Planners

This planners’ guide presents an introduction to population monitoring in radiation emergencies for public health officials and emergency preparedness planners at the state and local levels. Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with extensive input from its partners, it focuses on planning a public health response to radiological or nuclear terrorism
incidents involving mass casualties.

Population monitoring is an essential element that is often overlooked in emergency response planning for radiological or nuclear terrorism incidents. Many critical components of population monitoring should be put in place in the first few hours after the incident, before the arrival of federal assets that might be used to assist in the monitoring efforts. State and local emergency response and public health authorities can use this guide to

• Evaluate their own emergency response plan to determine if it adequately addresses population monitoring.
• Identify staffing needs, training requirements, and necessary material assets.
• Prioritize training needs for their staff.
• Further develop mutual assistance programs with other states by identifying available resources to meet population monitoring needs.
• Be better prepared to prioritize allocation of personnel and material resources in the actual response to a radiation emergency.