At a glance
CDC has many guidelines, tools, and other resources to aid state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) health departments and other organizations in preparing for and responding to disasters and emergencies.
Guidelines and primers
Guidance for emergency managers for identifying at-risk groups
At-risk groups, also referred to as socially vulnerable populations, require special attention in a disaster. During disasters, populations with higher levels of social vulnerability are more likely to be adversely affected.
Planning for an Emergency: Strategies for Identifying and Engaging At-Risk Groups is designed specifically for emergency managers. The document describes a process that will help emergency managers identify at-risk groups in their communities. The information can help reduce vulnerabilities and enhance outcomes.
A primer for understanding the principles and practices of disaster surveillance in the United States
CDC developed A Primer for Understanding the Principles and Practices of Disaster Surveillance in the United States to provide introductory information on the purpose, importance, and methods for approaching disaster surveillance in the United States. The audience for this primer is public health departments at state, tribal, local, and territorial levels.
This document outlines how health departments can approach public health surveillance during a disaster and reviews principles and practices of disaster surveillance. It provides key concepts and challenges to consider when conducting disaster surveillance but does not give step-by-step guidance.
The principles and practices described in this document can be useful for developing surveillance systems for disasters if existing systems do not exist, or for leveraging or modifying existing systems for disaster situations.
Reference guide for death certification
CDC's A Reference Guide for Certification of Deaths in the Event of a Natural, Human-induced, or Chemical/Radiological Disaster provides examples and recommendations for recording the name and type of disaster on the death certificate to ensure that disaster relatedness is reflected appropriately on the death certificate.
Medicolegal death investigator quick guide for investigation during disasters and severe weather events
This quick reference guide is designed for medicolegal death investigators to use during five common disasters/severe weather events: hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat, thunderstorms, and winter weather. The guide includes 1) information on common causes, circumstances, and risk factors for death; 2) considerations for the death investigation report; and 3) links to additional resources for use during investigations.
Download the print-only booklet version
Toolkits
Community assessment for public health emergency response (CASPER) toolkit
The CASPER Toolkit provides guidelines to assist state, tribal, local, or territorial (STLT) public health departments or other emergency response agencies in conducting CASPER. Please see the CASPER webpage for more information.
Death scene investigation toolkit
CDC's Death Scene Investigation after Natural Disasters or other Weather-Related Events/Español (Spanish) features checklists, forms, and other resources for death scene investigators to use when collecting data at death scenes during and after a natural disaster or weather-related event.
Below are refillable forms specific to certain disasters:
- Heat/Español (Spanish)
- Winter/Español (Spanish)
- Tornado/Español (Spanish)
- Hurricane/Español (Spanish)
- Thunder/Lightning/Español (Spanish)
- Earthquake/Español (Spanish)
A literature review to examine how death scene data are collected and how such data are used to determine disaster relatedness informed the new toolkit. More information about the literature review can be found in the article, Medicolegal Death Scene Investigations After Natural Disaster- and Weather-Related Events: A Review of the Literature.