Zombie Apocalypse!

How would the United Nations respond to a Hypothetical (But Kinda Real...) Scenario?

OK. Zombies aren't real and their attack isn't imminent. But! What if it were? How would the global community "respond" to a zombie attack?

In the wake of the success of dystopian novels like The Maze Runner, a broadly-published Zombie Survival Guide, and movies like World War Z and television shows like The Walking Dead, scientists at Cornell University actually postulated how a zombie attack would affect the United States. Yes, Cornell University. By real scientists! Yes, it's partly for fun, but as we remember the 2-year anniversary of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the concepts of "infection", "spread", "quarantine"...and most of all, "fear...seem to know no boundary between "zombie" and "Ebola". 

Part I: The Zombie Attack

You Can Run, You Can Hide: 
The Epidemiology and Statistical Mechanics of Zombies

By Alexander A. Alemi, Matthew Bierbaum, Christopher R. Myers, James P. Sethna

Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

(Dated: March 6, 2015)

Yes, real scientists at Cornell University published a study on what would happen if the United States were suddenly attacked by zombies. Like, seriously. Look at their data and findings and formulas on the right! This is hardcore!

A full PDF of their study is found here, but let's just read the summary below:

Zombies captivate the imagination. And it certainly captured the imagination of these scientists! Using real data​, they found that:

• The most populated grid site in the United States is downtown New York City, with 299,616 individuals “per block”, or per 3 squared kilometers. So, that's where the outbreak starts!

Then, using films like Night of the Living Dead, and Shawn of the Dead. they found that zombies move at around 1 feet per second and can infect entire blocks in 11 hours!

They continue to estimate that most of the United States population would be turned into zombies by the first week.

​After four weeks, much of the United States has fallen, but it takes a very long time for the zombies to diffuse and capture the remaining portions of the United States. Even four months in, remote areas of Montana and Nevada remain zombie free.

Part II: The U.N. Response

I mean, that's pretty cool! They really did their homework! Don't get "lost" here, but if you wanna use their "Zombie Simulation", click here. Click on the map, around the city of Denver, then reset the map and click on New York City, for example, to see, truly, how fast an infection can spread...

But remember, don't get lost in that site! You have work to do, namely, How WOULD the U.N. respond to a hypothetical...but at the same time, very real...scenario like this? And this is where you get to decide to where, and how, the UN will respond.

Below are the list of resources you'll need for your "zombie counterattack". 

1. A description of how UNICEF responds in times of crisis. Remember the "C" in UNICEF stands for children. 
2. A description of how the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) responds in times of crisis. Note that the "R" in UNHCR stands for "Refugee", people "displaced" or, essentially, "homeless", as a result of a recent disaster. 
3. An infographic about how the WFP (World Food Programme) responds in times of crisis. 
4. An interactive map of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world and in the United States. 
5. A description of when, and how, UN Peacekeeping Forces (ground troops) enter the situation. Remember that this is usually a "last resort" option. 
6. The following information on how the United Nations / WHO "classify" disasters:

Part III: Your Response

So...fix it! Using the accompanying "ERT Form", create a plan of attack for the first 12 hours and 48 hours. Remember to include reference to real UN agencies and actions...but creative as well!

Then, you'll turn your initial ERT into me (the UN ERT Coordinator), and once I approve it, you'll continue to respond to the "Zombie spread" for the next 168 hours (1 week) and the next 672 hours (1 month). 

In your Google Drive, or email, I have shared a variety of images, charts, and graphs that you might want to use to "narrate" your response to the "Zombie spread" via ExplainEverything! Additionally, there are "Zombie spread maps" for the 1-week and 1-month disasters. You are free to use any of the images, charts, and graphs...and/or the maps...that you'd like! Regardless of what you do, or how you do it, you'll be responding to the following questions:

1. By the end of the first week, where has "Zombism" spread? How has the United Nations responded? Be sure to include information on UNICEF, UNHCR, the World Food Programme, any threatened UNESCO sites, and the "protections provided" by any Peacekeeping Forces. I will be looking for your creativity and usage of relevant detail​.
2. By the end of the first month, where has "Zombism" spread? How has the United Nations responded differently from what they did in the first week? Be sure to include information on UNICEF, UNHCR, the World Food Programme, any threatened UNESCO sites, and the "protections provided" by any Peacekeeping Forces. I will be looking for your creativity and usage of relevant detail​.

When you're done, share your ExplainEverything file with me! That's it! Note that you don't have to include anything specific in your file; as long as you've answered the questions in red, you're good!