ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS ARE BEST EMERGENCY RESPONSE MANAGERS

Environmental health officers have huge task of protecting the public's health from harmful elements in the environment. The  Texas flood and the hurricane IRMA in Florida, USA, clearly demonstrated the magnitude of environmental health issues and response needs faced by communities in emergencies.

In Nigeria, flooding, terrorism and insurgency have caused a huge Environmental health impact of communities, states and regions as a whole. The IDP, camp for instance, was established to shelter and manage evacuees and survivors. But sadly because, the Environmental Health officers were not involved in such vital public health issues, the entire handling of the camp was politicized; embezzlement of IDP camp funds became rampant to an extent that a government official in Nigeria cut grasses with an amount well over two hundred (N200,000,000) million naira. That's crazy!

Whether a disaster event is as a result of flood, Ebola, or in displaced persons camps, Environmental Health officers have important roles to play in such emergency response. Issues related to food, water, air quality, waste, vector control, and building environments will always exist.
Environmental health officers must be actively involved in local and state emergency response planning efforts including the federal level. Emergencies vary greatly from region to region and from city to city. For example,  communities that are water logged and easily flooded , or communities where oil wells and pipelines are located or communities near chemical plants, petroleum tank farms etc face unique emergency response challenges. 
Also, a region with high armed insurgency displaces civilians, makes food, medicines and portable water scarce for the average civilian. In the same vein, litters of dead bodies and mass grave of dead casualties abounds which could lead to contamination of drinking water and spread of diseases if not properly check.
Originally, emergency response and planning processes should begin at the local level which determines the events that are most likely to occur in a community and developing appropriate local response plans, deciding who will respond and how, determining staffing and equipment needs, and practicing plan implementation. To this end, NATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE AGENCY (NEMA) offices/formations must be opened in all local government headquarters in Nigeria with enough funding, staff and equipments and not just the Federal level alone as it now .

The Government (federal, state and local) must recognize the value of the skills of Environmental health officers/practitioners and also know how valuable those skills are in responding to emergency events.

The assessment of shelters for the  hurricane irma evacuees in florida, USA by the Florida Environmental Health officers is a great example of the use of these skills. Nigeria must draw a leaf from the US government and agencies on how best to manage and deploy environmental health officers in disaster response and management.
Environmental Health Officers are trained in preventing disaster and its mannagent.

Many of the environmental health issues that exists in the evacuees /IDP camps,  shelters were the same as those that Environmental Health Officers/ practitioners assess and regulate during their regular duties. These issues include safe food preparation, safe and adequate supply of water, infection control/ hand washing, solid waste disposal, vector control, general safety, sewage disposal, and adequate sanitation facilities.

As such, ensuring that these issues are addressed and that systems are functioning properly is essential for protecting the health and safety of shelter /camp occupants and visitors.

The government (federal and state) must take advantage of Emergency Response Trainings and Emergencies as often as possible to the Environmental Health Officers in their employ so as to help them be more flexible and apply their skills and knowledge across several areas of Environmental health (e.g. food, water, waste, air quality, vector control).
Environmental Health Officers/practitioners who are expected to respond to emergencies often need to review the basics of environmental health and should be aware of technical updates.

Finally, the decision about when it is safe to re-enter and reoccupy a community after an emergency presents many challenges. Environmental health practitioners know how to evaluate a variety of environmental issues (e.g., food, water, waste, air quality, vector control); they address a variety of environmental health issues in their daily routine jobs and can translate science into practice.

In emergencies, Environmental Health Officers have the ability to collect, analyze, and translate Environmental Health data. These abilities are a great asset for policy decision making. Experienced Environmental health Officers/ practitioners are well needed to lead the environmental health response to emergency events. Establishing and maintaining strong environmental health manpower/ programs at the local and state levels helps to ensure that this leadership is in place.