Search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fl. AP Photo - Lynne Sladky

By Irwin Redlener, Opinion Contributor, The Hill

Covid-19 is not the only disaster we need to manage: outdated infrastructure and the effects of climate change also represent extreme public health threats. The deadly building collapse in South Florida is a searing reminder that fragile infrastructure can have tragic public health consequences.

“Besides what appears to have been design flaws in the Champlain Towers condos, there may well be additional damage caused by recurrent flooding consequent to sea level rise associated with climate change. This does not bode well, of course, for coastal communities in Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. where some 95 million Americans currently live.

And what about the resilience of the built environment in areas where earthquakes, wildfires, or tornadoes are a recurrent risk?

It is estimated that some 143 million Americans live in potentially seismically active regions, while another 43 million American homes are in wildfire-prone areas. It is precisely in areas like these where typical, good construction standards are insufficient to withstand threats from strong earthquakes, severe winds, or raging wildfires. Such hazards test the resiliency of America’s built environment, a key component of our total infrastructure which also includes thousands of dams, levees, water, and water treatment systems, power plants and the complex national grid systems.”

While fixing America’s infrastructure is necessary to function optimally and compete in the 21st Century, these upgrades and repairs may also be the most important investments in safeguarding the public’s health that we have ever made.