Which factor is explicitly listed as affecting vector/pest management during a disaster?

• A. Wind direction
• B. Public services (garbage, sewer)
• C. Temperature
• D. Population density

Answer: (B)

Public services such as garbage collection and sewer operation are directly linked to pest control during disasters. When trash isn’t removed or sewer systems back up, pests have more food sources and breeding sites, allowing populations of rats, flies, mosquitoes, and other vectors to surge. Restoring and maintaining these sanitation services reduces the environmental conditions that support pest growth, making it the factor explicitly emphasized in disaster pest management plans.

Wind direction and temperature influence pest activity and spread, but they’re not the controllable conditions highlighted in disaster pest-management guidance in the same way sanitation services are. Population density affects risk levels, but the explicit management lever identified in disaster planning is the status of public services (garbage and sewer).