Landsats Aff

Refugees – Solvency – Disaster management

GIS services apply to all stages of disaster management
Cova 99 (Thomas J., Director Center for Natural & Technological Hazards, 74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:AUe7QGDHnv0J:scholar.google.com/+GIS+hurricane+mitigation&hl=en&as_sdt=0,48, DA 7/6/11, OST)

In examining the GIS literature, perhaps it is more appropriate to reduce the four phases of comprehensive emergency management into three phases: mitigation, preparedness and response, and recovery. This is simply because many GIS developed in the preparedness phase are utilised in the response phase. In other words, systems designed to help emergency managers respond to an actual disaster are frequently utilised to train emergency personnel and develop preparedness plans. From a GIS perspective, this serves to blur the preparedness and response phases into a single phase. However, GIS applications in the phases of mitigation (e.g. risk mapping) and recovery (e.g. damage assessment) are clearly distinct from the proposed merged preparedness and response phases.
GIS enables modeling to predict future disasters
Cova 99 (Thomas J., Director Center for Natural & Technological Hazards, 74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:AUe7QGDHnv0J:scholar.google.com/+GIS+hurricane+mitigation&hl=en&as_sdt=0,48, DA 7/6/11, OST)

In the emergency management phase well before a disaster, or more appropriately ‘between disasters’, the overarching goal is mitigation. Perhaps the most active role of GIS in this area relates to analytical modelling. This is a phase characterised by the opportunity to conduct long-term assessment, planning, forecasting, and management. Table 1 shows some of the spatial questions that have been posed in this phase along with the resulting application area and representative examples from the GIS literature.

GIS modeling can be overlayed on preexisting predictions to create evacuation routes
Cova 99 (Thomas J., Director Center for Natural & Technological Hazards, 74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:AUe7QGDHnv0J:scholar.google.com/+GIS+hurricane+mitigation&hl=en&as_sdt=0,48, DA 7/6/11, OST)

Another GIS role in the preparedness and response phases relates to hazard modelling, which differs slightly from the hazard modelling in risk assessment. In this context the disaster is occurring, and it is possible to gather many of the environmental parameters to aid in short-term prediction. One example of this class of hazard models is the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) sea, lake, and overland surge from hurricane (SLOSH) model (Griffith 1986). SLOSH is a simulation model that uses current wind speed, direction, precipitation predictions, and topography to predict land areas most likely to be submerged during a storm, to aid in evacuation planning. The model output can be integrated into a GIS as another spatial layer to support further inquiry. CAMEO (Cartwright 1990) is another well known hazard model in use by HAZMAT teams in the USA that supports response efforts during chemical spills. CAMEO has three modules that allow a user to identify hazardous chemicals and their risks, display spatial information about an area, and model atmospheric plume dispersal respectively. It is designed to be carried on emergency vehicles, an anticipated trend in GIS development for this phase.
GIS key to contingency escape routes
Cova 99 (Thomas J., Director Center for Natural & Technological Hazards, 74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:AUe7QGDHnv0J:scholar.google.com/+GIS+hurricane+mitigation&hl=en&as_sdt=0,48, DA 7/6/11, OST)

Another preparedness and response strategy that has received attention in GIS and emergency management is evacuation planning. Dunn (1992) has examined the potential role of GIS in generating alternative evacuation routes, Silva et al (1993) have developed and integrated an evacuation simulation model into a GIS to support the development of evacuation contingency plans around nuclear facilities, and Cova and Church (1997) describe a GIS-based method for revealing potential evacuation difficulties in advance of a disaster.

Refugees – Solvency – Disaster management

Sats key to effective disaster early warming
Kanji 8 (Fareedal, Masters in Sci @ AIT, fareedali-kanji.com/files/Applications_of_space_technology_-_Fareedali_Kanji_2008.pdf, may, DA 7/7/11, OST)

Early warnings of coastal hazards are important to give enough time to coastal communities for successful evacuation, as well as facilitate effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation activities, and on a larger time scale, can minimise disasters by allowing sufficient time to plan and implement preparedness and mitigation measures. One technology that has been explored for its use in early warnings since the 1970s is satellite remote sensing and other space technology, as they are becoming more accessible to the layman and they effectively link environmental data and decision-making tools. Using satellite remote sensing to forecast storms is the most advanced application as storms can be observed directly. A combination of other space technology and earth observing systems are particularly important for forecasting earthquakes and tsunamis. These include GPS stations, communication satellites and ocean buoys. However, the technology used to predict hazards is not the only component of early warning systems; the interaction with the end users is paramount as they are the ones who will be potentially affected if a coastal hazard makes landfall.
Satellites solve earthquake readiness, sea level rise warnings and costal warnings
Kanji 8 (Fareedal, Masters in Sci @ AIT, fareedali-kanji.com/files/Applications_of_space_technology_-_Fareedali_Kanji_2008.pdf, may, DA 7/7/11, OST)

This paper investigates the current and potential uses of satellite remote sensing for early warning of coastal natural hazards through a desktop review. Although this technology is widely applied in land based applications as well, this review will focus only on natural hazards that are unique to coastal areas. In particular, it will look into satellite remote sensing uses for early warnings of coastal storms and sea level rise that result in coastal inundation – the most important threat to the world’s coasts. Furthermore, tsunami detection using satellite remote sensing is still very much in its infancy; however, this paper will also investigate its use in predicting submarine earthquakes as this can be a useful component of tsunami warnings. Recognising that a wide array of space technology is needed to establish adequate multihazard early warning systems, Section 5 will introduce some of this other technology, particularly space technology.

Satellites key to early warming for disasters
Kanji 8 (Fareedal, Masters in Sci @ AIT, fareedali-kanji.com/files/Applications_of_space_technology_-_Fareedali_Kanji_2008.pdf, may, DA 7/7/11, OST)

For coastal hazard early warning applications, it is clear that the most advanced application of satellite remote sensing is for storms such as cyclones. These storms can be directly monitored well in advance of becoming a threat to any coastal populations, thereby allowing for sufficient time to take necessary actions to protect them. Other coastal hazards discussed in this paper – sea level rise, earthquakes and tsunami – can only be assessed indirectly using satellite remote sensing by monitoring other environmental phenomena as proxies to the actual hazards. Observing glaciers in order to deduce climate trends and predict sea level changes is a common practise and widely accepted because global warming is resulting in glacier melting, which in turn, is resulting in sea level rise. However, earthquake warnings based on ionospheric or oceanic precursors have never been issued; the connection between the two, although interesting, is not so simple or logical. Finally, the only tsunami warning satellite remote sensing can contribute to is that based on the earthquake precursor.