| Course | MPH 520 Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Disaster cycle analysis paper |
| Length | About 1,039 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Master of Public Health |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for MPH 520 Module 1
Counting the Dead, Protecting the Living: Public Health Across the Disaster Cycle After Hurricane Maria
Student Name
Master of Public Health Program, Aspen University
MPH 520: Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Counting the Dead, Protecting the Living: Public Health Across the Disaster Cycle After Hurricane Maria
Disasters are often imagined as moments: the storm makes landfall, the earthquake strikes. For public health, a disaster is a cycle that begins long before the event and continues long after it. Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, shows why. Most of its deaths came not from wind and water but from the weeks and months of disrupted power, water and health care that followed. This paper examines public health's role across the disaster cycle through that event.
Defining Preparedness
Public health emergency preparedness has been defined as the capability of public health and health care systems, communities and individuals to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to and recover from health emergencies, particularly those whose scale, timing or unpredictability threatens to overwhelm routine capabilities (Nelson et al., 2007). The definition emphasizes capability, not plans alone, and includes communities and individuals as well as agencies.
The Disaster Cycle
Emergency management describes four phases. Mitigation reduces the likelihood or impact of hazards. Preparedness builds the capacity to respond. Response saves lives and meets immediate needs. Recovery restores and, ideally, improves conditions. The phases overlap, and recovery from one disaster becomes mitigation for the next. The table shows public health's role in each.
| Phase | Public health functions | Example from Hurricane Maria |
|---|---|---|
| Mitigation | Strengthen infrastructure for health; reduce vulnerability | Backup power for dialysis centers and hospitals was limited |
| Preparedness | Plans, stockpiles, registries of people with medical needs, exercises | Few lists of residents dependent on electricity-powered devices |
| Response | Surveillance, medical care, safe water, communication | Water and power loss lasted months in many areas |
| Recovery | Restore health services, address mental health, rebuild | Deaths from interrupted care continued into December |
The Event
Hurricane Maria made landfall as a strong Category 4 storm on September 20, 2017, two weeks after Hurricane Irma had passed nearby. It destroyed much of Puerto Rico's electrical grid, leaving most of the island without power for weeks and some areas for months. Water systems, roads and communications failed. Hospitals ran on generators with limited fuel.
The Mortality Question
The government's official death count was 64. Researchers who surveyed 3,299 randomly selected homes calculated that, between September 20 and the end of 2017, deaths ran at 14.3 per 1,000 residents, which translates into 4,645 excess deaths, a 62% increase over the same period in 2016, though the plausible range was very wide. Roughly a third of those deaths were blamed on care that was delayed or cut off (Kishore et al., 2018).
A Second Estimate
An analysis of official vital statistics death counts compared deaths after the hurricane with expected numbers based on previous years and estimated 1,139 excess deaths from September through December 2017 (Santos-Lozada & Howard, 2018). Different methods produced different numbers, but all showed that the official count far understated the toll. The government later adopted an estimate of 2,975 excess deaths from an independent study it commissioned.
Why Deaths Continued
Excess deaths persisted because the systems that keep chronically ill people alive failed. People on dialysis could not reach treatment; people using oxygen concentrators lost power; insulin spoiled without refrigeration; clinics closed; and heat without fans or air conditioning endangered older adults. These are public health problems that preparedness and response can address.
Why Counting Matters
An accurate death count is not only a matter of record. It shapes the scale of federal assistance, the urgency of the response and the lessons drawn for future disasters. If deaths from interrupted care are not counted as disaster deaths, the resources needed to prevent them will not be planned. Surveillance of excess mortality in near real time is therefore a core response function.
Preparedness Lessons
Maria revealed the need for registries of residents who depend on electricity for medical devices, backup power and fuel plans for dialysis centers and clinics, prepositioned supplies of medications, and communication plans that work without cell towers. Many of these are low-cost measures that must be in place before a storm.
Response and Recovery Lessons
During response, health departments should monitor deaths and hospital visits by cause, not just count storm injuries, and should conduct door-to-door checks on people known to be at risk. During recovery, restoring primary care, pharmacy access and mental health services is as important as rebuilding roads.
Local, National and Global Dimensions
Maria was a local disaster with national implications, since Puerto Rico is a US territory dependent on federal assistance, and global relevance, since island nations throughout the Caribbean face similar storm risks made worse by warming seas. Public health preparedness must connect local plans with national resources and international lessons.
Methods Behind the Numbers
The two estimates used different methods. The household survey sampled homes and asked about deaths among members, which can miss households that left the island or where everyone died, a form of survivor bias. The vital statistics approach relied on registered deaths, which may lag during chaos. Each method has blind spots, and together they show why disaster mortality should be measured in more than one way.
The Role of Global Guidance
International guidance increasingly recommends counting indirect deaths, those caused by disruption of services, as disaster deaths. Adopting consistent definitions before a disaster would allow faster and more credible counts afterward and would make comparisons between events meaningful. Public health agencies can build these definitions into their surveillance plans.
Community Resilience
Communities with strong social networks, local organizations and trusted leaders recover faster. In Puerto Rico, neighbors, churches and community kitchens delivered food, water and medicine when official aid was slow. Preparedness plans that recognize and support these networks extend public health's reach into places agencies cannot reach quickly.
Accountability
Public reporting of disaster deaths also serves accountability, giving residents and lawmakers a basis for asking whether plans worked and what must change.
Conclusion
Hurricane Maria shows that the greatest toll of a disaster may come during the long tail of response and recovery, when health systems are disrupted. Public health contributes in every phase: mitigating vulnerabilities, preparing registries and supplies, monitoring deaths accurately during response and restoring care during recovery. Counting the dead correctly is the first step to protecting the living in the next disaster.
References
Kishore, N., Marqués, D., Mahmud, A., Kiang, M. V., Rodriguez, I., Fuller, A., Ebner, P., Sorensen, C., Racy, F., Lemery, J., Maas, L., Leaning, J., Irizarry, R. A., Balsari, S., & Buckee, C. O. (2018). Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. New England Journal of Medicine, 379(2), 162-170. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1803972
Nelson, C., Lurie, N., Wasserman, J., & Zakowski, S. (2007). Conceptualizing and defining public health emergency preparedness. American Journal of Public Health, 97(Suppl. 1), S9-S11. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.114496
Santos-Lozada, A. R., & Howard, J. T. (2018). Use of death counts from vital statistics to calculate excess deaths in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. JAMA, 320(14), 1491-1493. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.10929
What the MPH 520 Module 1 instructions ask for
Aspen's catalog frames MPH 520 around the public health community's role in identifying, responding to, containing, mitigating and recovering from disasters, and since Aspen keeps the first module's prompt behind the course login, this sample opens with the disaster cycle itself. A first assignment in an emergency preparedness course often asks you to describe the phases of disaster management and show public health's contribution in each, ideally through a real event. Check whether your instructor names an event or lets you choose one. Pick a disaster with published evidence on health outcomes, not only news coverage. Tie each phase to concrete public health functions. Note where the event revealed gaps in preparedness.
How this MPH 520 Module 1 example is built
The sample runs a little under 1,050 words across fifteen headings, with a three-column table linking each phase of the cycle to public health functions and a Maria example. It defines preparedness, lays out the cycle, describes the storm and presents both mortality estimates. Sections explain why deaths continued, why counting matters, and what the event teaches for preparedness, response and recovery, followed by its local, national and global dimensions, the methods behind the numbers, global guidance on indirect deaths, community resilience and accountability. A comment in the margin next to the definition explains why a published definition gives the paper a yardstick. The conclusion links accurate counting to protecting people in the next storm.
MPH 520 Module 1 rubric: what earns full marks
Disaster cycle papers are usually graded on correct description of the phases, accurate use of evidence from a real event, clear links between public health functions and each phase, and practical lessons. Here the evidence comes from a household mortality survey, a vital statistics analysis and a published definition of preparedness, all listed in APA style. The phase table shows systematic thinking. The mortality section compares methods rather than simply quoting a number, which graders value. Lessons are specific, such as registries of residents on electricity-dependent devices, instead of general calls for better planning. A section on local, national and global dimensions addresses the course description directly. Correct dates and a clear distinction between direct and indirect deaths also help.
MPH 520 Module 1 help: mistakes that cost marks
Many students describe the four phases in textbook terms and never connect them to a real event, or they tell the story of a disaster without organizing it by phase. Another gap is quoting a single death toll without explaining where it came from. Use at least one peer-reviewed study of health outcomes. Distinguish direct deaths from indirect deaths caused by disrupted services. Keep lessons concrete and assign them to phases. For help choosing a disaster with strong published evidence, our tutors can suggest two or three events and point you to studies of each. Finish with the single change you believe would have saved the most lives. A short timeline of the first 100 days can anchor the analysis.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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MPH 520 Module 1 questions, answered
What does MPH 520 Module 1 usually ask for?
Aspen's MPH 520 covers public health's role in identifying, responding to and recovering from disasters, so a paper on the disaster cycle through a real event is a typical first assignment. Follow your classroom prompt.
What are the four phases of the disaster cycle?
Mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
What are excess deaths?
Deaths above the number expected for the same period based on previous years, used to measure a disaster's full toll.
Where can I find a free MPH 520 Module 1 sample paper?
The Hurricane Maria disaster cycle paper appears on this page, with its phase-by-phase table of public health functions.
Why did Hurricane Maria's death toll vary so widely in MPH 520 Module 1?
The official count included only direct deaths, while survey and vital statistics studies counted excess deaths from disrupted power, water and health care over the following months.