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For disaster preparedness researcher Tom Chandler,
geography is a key variable in the survival equation
by Joe Levine
mong Tom Chandler’s heroes is the 19th
century English physician John Snow,
one of the fathers of the field of epidemiology. In 1854—
nearly a decade before the advent of germ theory, when
people still thought diseases were caused by a “miasma” of
foul air—Snow traced a cholera outbreak in the city of Soho
to specific contaminated water pumps.
“By using a map of the city’s pumps and looking at
where people were dying, he figured out that it was a y
water-borne disease, not airborne,” says Chandler (Ph.D.,
’09, M.A., ’00). “It really illustrates how a map can y
solve problems.”
Solving problems with maps is Chandler’s own forte.
As a research associate at the National Center for Disaster
Preparedness (NCDP) at
Columbia’s Mailman School
of Public Health, he spends
his days analyzing natural
and human disasters—from
Hurricane Katrina to last
year’s earthquake in Haiti, to
the recent catastrophic events
in Japan that have resulted in
partial nuclear meltdown—
and the geographical factors
that often help set them in
motion or determine their
ultimate outcome. Boyish
looking, with glasses and
unruly brown hair, Chandler
projects the friendly politeness
of an Eagle Scout—which can
PINPOINTING AN OUTBREAK An original map of an
1854 cholera outbreak in Soho, made by the epidemiologist
John Snow.
make it all the more jarring when he talks about running
computer-simulations of 10-kiloton nuclear explosions
in New York City. But there may be few people better
equipped to think about forestalling or mitigating such horrific
what-ifs.
“I’ve always been interested in how to take computer
technologies and enhance the ways that information can
be visualized,” he says. “Since 9/11, I’ve focused on how
programs can highlight the specific needs of communities
during disasters.”
The past five years have brought a quantum leap in such
technologies—most notably Google Earth, which, through
satellite and aerial photography, enables viewers to see details
as small as specific streets and houses; and real-time geographic
information, such as public
health, weather and traffic data
which, as the company itself
puts it, “reveal relationships,
patterns, and trends.” Google
Earth, launched right before
Hurricane Katrina, helped
many survivors determine
whether their homes were y
still standing.
A similar technology,
deployed in Haiti immediately
following the earthquake, pinpointed
the largest concentrations
of rubble, helping rescue
workers make the most of the
72-hour period known as the
maximum survival window.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY Samantha Isom