Reducing Disaster Losses Through Better Information by National Research Council

Author:National Research Council
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Earth Sciences : Earthquakes, Floods and Natural Disasters
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 1999-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

BOX 3-2 Information Technology for Disaster Management

EIS/GEM InfoBook Software, designed by Essential Technologies, Inc. (Rockville, Md.), is intended to provide disaster managers with an effective crisis management tool by bringing together important software. The software blends four core elements for disaster management: (1) a data administration component to put sound, comprehensive information at users’ fingertips; (2) maps to help answer the questions of who, what, and where will be affected by a disaster event and identify resources for assistance; (3) models to help managers project impacts; and (4) a flexible communications component to facilitate the sharing of real-time information at a number of levels. These four components merge to provide decision makers with an accurate and complete representation of an emergency situation. Disaster managers thus have access to coordinated information from multiple sources with relative ease.

The software’s capabilities allow those responding to an event to make the best decisions possible. On January 17, 1994, EIS maps, data, and aerial photographs were exchanged electronically on personal computers between officials in Washington, D.C., and federal disaster offices in California following the Northridge earthquake. The real-time visual images and reports were viewed by decision makers on the local, state, and federal levels simultaneously, which helped them determine the extent of damage and speed relief efforts to the earthquake’s victims.

Commercially available software packages can put disaster information at user’s fingertips.

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