In 1957, in one of the earliest reviews of on the role of epidemiology during natural disaster, Saylor and Gordon considered disasters as epidemics and suggested using well-defined epidemiologic parameters such as time, place, and person to describe disasters. However, the practical application of epidemiology to disaster management really began with the massive international relief operations mounted during the civil war in Nigeria in the late 1960s. Epidemiologists from the Center ofor Disease Control (CDC) helped to develop techniques for the rapid assessment of nutritional status and to conduct surveys to identify the population in need. Epidemiologists developed survey tools (such as the quakstick) and survey methods with which to rapidly assess the nutritional status of large displaced populations so that relief could be targeted to those groups in greatest need.

During the 1970s, the need for disaster epidemiology was apparent in many disaster relief operations, however lacked of skilled personnel made disaster management very difficult. These problems of coordinating a disaster response are compounded by the conditions generally created by a disaster, including difficult logistics, a lack of communication, transportation, and local supplies and support.

For overview of Instrument for Rapid Assessment of Injuries and Other Medical Conditions, look at the following CDC website: