By Anne Hale Miglarese, CEO, EarthData International Inc. (www.earthdata.com), Frederick, Md.

Globalization is never more apparent than in disaster response. Amid terrorist attacks, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires and other catastrophes, the world unites in an outpouring of empathy and aid. Leaving few hearts untouched, such tragedies propel united action. Global support, whether from the United Nations or individual countries, ranges from cash and supplies to manpower.

The Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which killed 275,000 people, elicited pledges of almost $7 billion in international aid and rushed multinational relief organizations to the area to assist victims of one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. The world again responded in October 2005 when rains from Hurricane Stan caused mudslides to bury whole villages in Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras, and when an earthquake on the Pakistan-Kashmir border killed 50,000 and displaced millions of people.

Emergency preparedness can help rescue and recovery workers stabilize events, mitigate additional risks, and save lives through fast, efficient, sustained response. From EarthData’s perspective as one mapping and geographic information system (GIS) service provider among thousands of public- and private-sector responders to two of the worst tragedies in U.S. history—the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, which battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in fall 2005—the power and imperative of collaborative effort must be the foundation of any emergency preparedness and rapid response system.

Reflections on 9/11
The immediate and selfless response of so many people, from private citizens to public servants, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States demonstrated the power and effectiveness of collaboration during crises. At the request of the New York State Office of Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Coordination (CSCIC, then New York State Office For Technology, or NYSOFT), EarthData provided aerial data acquisition and produced digital orthophotography plus Light Detection and Ranging and thermal data over the World Trade Center (WTC) Ground Zero.
 

Collaboration was requisite even before the company could assist. With all aircraft grounded nationally, CSCIC helped obtain Federal Aviation Administration approval for EarthData’s aircraft to fly through the restricted airspace. Once aerial missions began, New York state troopers and staff from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority transported the raw data and finished products between the aircraft, the production facility, and New York City’s Pier 92 where the state had established the Emergency Mapping and Data Analysis Center.

At Pier 92, technicians imported the data into a digital database used to assess the devastation and to plan rescue and recovery operations. More than 50 GIS professionals from government, academia and industry worked around the clock to generate the maps and analyses needed by the many WTC responders. The 9/11 emergency response in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania would have been impossible without ceaseless and massive collaborative efforts of untold individuals and agencies. Perhaps rescue and recovery could have been even faster, safer and more effective if, before the attacks, service providers were under contract; teams had established lines of authority, responsibility, jurisdiction and accountability; and all resources had been at the ready in a national emergency preparedness system.

Everyone, from storm survivors and congressional staff to emergency responders, complained about the slow initial response to Katrina. EarthData served on a team with URS Corp. and Michael Baker Corp. to support damage inspections and claims assessment.

The urgent requests didn’t include the navigation and other data normally furnished for photogrammetric production. To avoid the delays of waiting for the additional data, the team used “rubbersheeting” to rectify the new data to digital-orthophoto-quarter-quadrangle imagery available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2004 National Agriculture Imagery Program. To speed product delivery, the request also withheld requirements for imagery color balancing.
Even several tiers removed from the actual rescue and recovery operations, the success of this relatively straightforward mapping task depended on teamwork among public- and private-sector organizations to acquire, transport, process and deliver geospatial data. While responders performed selflessly and tirelessly, the nation, minus a coordinated collaborative system, failed the storm’s victims, survivors and responders during those first traumatic hours and days. Authorities and citizens can only wonder how many lives may have been saved or how much property spared if response could have been pre-staged, coordinated and swift.

 

Collaboration isn’t just a requisite, it is the heart of emergency response, and it must be the foundation of a national or global emergency response system. The initiative in the United States must begin with federal, state, local, and private-sector planning and funding. Victims and responders deserve emergency preparedness and rapid response, and the people who can make it happen are ready and waiting for the federal government to take the helm of a collaborative initiative. Citizens can alert their elected officials, industry and professional organizations can promote action within their disciplines, and everyone can support initiatives that bolster emergency preparedness.

The geospatial community has tremendous tools and services to support and significantly enhance traditional emergency management if properly orchestrated within the existing infrastructure. The United States has the resources and the heart to care for the victims and responders in natural and human-inflicted disasters. As a leader in the global community, the United States owes it to the world and its citizens to be prepared.
 

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