<h2>
	American Academy of Disaster Medicine</h2>
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	As a physician leader, we feel that we must take a leadership role in regard to ensuring that we and our colleagues are aware and prepared to effectively respond to future disasters.</p>
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	We are reaching out to you because this problem can be solved only at the highest levels by physician leaders.</p>
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	<strong><u>The Problem:</u></strong> September 11, 2001, changed our world in many, many ways, but to the numerous subsequent events that seemed to follow awoke all of us that practice medicine. We lived through random anthrax attacks, then the SARS outbreak, followed by blackouts in New York City and the surrounding cities and states during the summer of 2003. Then, the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, a tumultuous hurricane season in 2005 culminating with the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, and, of course, terrorist attacks throughout the world including Spain, England, Bangladesh and Bali - all against a backdrop of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
