“Building resilience in rural communities by helping people and animals be prepared for disasters and emergencies.“
Dr. Costa’s research projects and outreach focus on mitigating the impacts of disasters on the health and welfare of animals and building resilience in rural communities. Every disaster impacts humans and animals. By including animals in disaster planning, it protects the health and ensures the safety of all involved. By ensuring rural communities take an all-animals-all-hazards approach to preparedness, we build resilience together.
The All-Animals-All-Hazards Preparedness approach of Costa Lab is aimed to foster community resilience through strengthening preparedness against, readiness for and recovery from emergencies and disasters, including extreme weather events, man-made disasters, animal health emergencies and zoonotic disease outbreaks impacting rural and agricultural communities. Areas of emphasis are based on an evaluation of hazard risks and needs in communities with the ultimate goal of bridging the gaps through partnerships with local, regional, state and national organizations, agencies or other entities involved in preparation for, response to and recovery from disasters in rural areas.