 Before intervening in a disaster, you need to conduct a rapid needs assessment. In this session, we shall look through the principles of conducting a rapid needs assessment in a disaster situation. Let us start by an activity. Look at five disaster situations, floods, war and conflicts, disease outbreak situation, drought and famine situation, and an institution of fire situation. Spend a few minutes and write down the kind of information that you would need in these types of disasters. You may select one of these. Objectives of a rapid assessment include answering the following questions. As a disaster occurred, how many are affected? What are the immediate needs? Are local resources available? What external resources are needed? What are the estimated costs of intervention? And how do you develop an action plan using this information? Key activities in a rapid assessment include planning the rapid assessment visit, planning initial tasks of a team, field data collection, analysis of data, identification of high risk groups, dissemination of information and using this information for action. In planning the visit, compose the assessment team and select a team leader. Collect background information on the incident, determine gaps in information that need to be addressed. Two, initial tasks of the team. These need to prepare an assessment checklist. Assess existing information. Conduct, prepare a timetable for the assessment. Assign tasks and set up communication measures. Inform and include local authorities. Obtain the necessary equipment for the assessment including computers, radios, etc. Organize transport vehicles, fuel, visas if necessary. Inform potential donors and key decision makers. And possibly inform the local leaders in the community where you are going to conduct the assessment. Three, field visit and data collection. Information needs in the emergency phase include affected population and demographics, vital information and health data, food and nutritional status, environment, water and sanitation, shelter and non food items, resource needs and coordination. Methods in the field visits and data collection include visual inspection of the affected area, interviews with community leaders, health workers, emergency personnel, individuals from affected population, review of existing information, conducting rapid surveys to fill gaps in available information. From the affected population we need to describe the size and demographics, specially vulnerable groups like women, children, disabled and elderly, patterns of movement, social and cultural factors, ethnicity and related issues, vital health information includes deaths and their main causes, both related to the disaster and other co-mobilities existing, diseases of epidemic potential, diseases of public health importance like STDs, HIV AIDS and maternal health conditions. In the sources of this information could be hospitals and health centers, local leaders, response personnel and individuals that are directly or indirectly affected. Assess the healthcare infrastructure. This includes health personnel, drugs and vaccine supply and background health information. Assess the status of nutrition and food including acute malnutrition, especially among children 6 months to 5 years, micronutrient deficiencies and vulnerable groups, especially pregnant women, the elderly, the disabled and the children. Assess the environment, look at water supply, shelter and sanitation. Assess the resource needs including human resources, food items and non food items. Challenges in rapid assessment include multiple assessments, team balance to take care of local issues, gender, culture and minorities, single versus multiple focus assessments, local systems and assessments and targeting, what do you really need to know? Key principles of rapid assessment include the assessment being aimed at determining the intervention needed, the fact that it must be completed quickly, the fact that it must identify priority areas for intervention, the fact that it provides baseline data for continuous monitoring and surveillance.