Disasters, particularly earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, war-related complications, famine and infectious epidemics, have been a part of recorded human experience. From Pompeii to the Johnston Flood and World War II and the Black Plague to the Spanish Influenza, there have been catastrophic occurrences that will not long be forgotten by either legend or history books. Nevertheless, those occurrences were relatively few and far-between before the mid-twentieth century. Indeed, the nature of

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... ers has changed since then. From terrorists taking advantage of'new technology' to weather-related events that cause trillions of dollars worth of damages and economic loss, the world has evolved. In the last 50 to 60 years alone, the risk and frequency of events with multiple injuries and deaths has increased dramatically [1±4] and it is bound to increase logarithmically over the next half century. Not only is the earth more heavily-populated with human beings settling across many more regions of the planet, but there are also larger concentrations of human inhabitants dependent on other resources for sustenance. Dependency on others for complicated food supply chains, refrigeration, fuel and power sources and public health hygiene (sewage handling), makes human populations more vulnerable than ever before and less self-sufficient. In addition, these large, vulnerable population centers are often concentrated in high-risk locales such as metropolitan cities where very frequent and multiple person-to-person contacts occur. Often they are along disaster prone areas, be they in coastline or sub-sea level reclaimed lands. In addition, the world now faces a broadened spectrum of disasters, ranging from terrorist bombings, unconventional wars, nuclear releases, transportational mishaps, worldwide infectious disease epidemics and chemical discharges (technology-generated) to floods, famine, earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones, fires, and other natural disasters' [2, 4] . It may also be that human technology has increased the likelihood of more severe and more frequent natural disasters. Whether it is global warming (from industry and omnipresent internal combustion machines) leading to stronger and more frequent hurricanes or the jumbo jet that rapidly translocates deadly influenza viruses around the planet, the threat continues to evolve far beyond the world of our grandparents. Therefore, although famine, war, plagues, earthquakes and such threats have darkened the human experience, the on-going spiral of human populations, the rapid growth of technology, relatively easy world-wide travel for millions and the exponential expansion of at-risk industries and domiciles have now conspired to dramatically increase human exposure to catastrophic events. In turn, the potential for casualties resulting from each incident is more likely to be much larger [2] and the magnitude of the economic costs beyond our current comprehension. The recent undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean that sent towering, 700 kilometer per hour tsunamis across Southern Asia resulted in a tremendous number of deaths and morbidity because of the sheer volume of exposures in vulnerable sites. The 1950s seaside fishing villages of 5,000 local inhabitants had become cosmopolitan, internationally-populated, destination resorts hosting hundreds of thousands supported by multi-national industries and technology. Such expanding population bases living and working in vulnerable situations along the at-risk seashores such as Phuket, Thailand, or in major metropolitan settlements built below sea level such as New Orleans, USA, provided unprecedented fodder for disaster, regardless of continent. Likewise, the recent earthquake in Pakistan that killed tens of thousands in a few minutes might not have had such an effect 50 years ago when such concentrated populations centers did not exist. If that were not enough, beyond a higher risk for casualties and frequency of events, the events have now become global with far-reaching psychological and sociological impact. While still true in some respects, the old adage that ªall disasters are localº may have become somewhat anachronistic since the mid-20 th Century. Although the Christmas 2004 tsunami disaster occurred in Southern Asia, it affected many other countries worldwide because those nation's citizens and many international businesses were involved. Mass air travel, economic strategic initiatives and evolving technology have all changed the face of'local' disasters. With the rapid growth of air travel and relatively affluent worldwide economies, travel and sightseeing have morphed from an occasional pastime of the very privileged and the eclectic adventurer into a prevailing norm of worldwide mass tourism. Likewise, industries have also become global, often seeking heavily-populated sites where labor may be more economical and local workforces readily available to work for lower wages. A large number of the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunamis were foreign nationals operating businesses and many, many tourists, including celebrities, were caught up in this Asian calamity as well. Thus, in many ways, disasters throughout the world have now become multinational in nature, having global impact, an impact amplified by mass media coverage and internet streaming of the events. Even so, a disaster in New Orleans involving mainly geography of only a few tens of kilometers, had ramifications in major cities hundreds of miles of way. Both before, and especially after, the strike of Hurricane Katrina in late August of 2005, many tens of thousands of evacuees had to settle in Dallas and Houston affecting resources in those cities and taxing the local medical system. For example, one Dallas shelter (750 kilometers from New Orleans) treated twice the number of medical problems and emergencies (among the evacuees) than it would on a day-to-day basis in the city's main trauma center. This sudden surge in medical problems required the establishment of a'field' medical facility for more than two weeks after the storm had dissolved. Not only did those patients have their day-to-day medical, dental and psychological needs, but they were now at greater risk in terms of compromised immune systems (nutrition/sleep deprived and psychologically-stressed), but also because of crowded conditions. From another perspective, despite the relatively fewer number of deaths than the