Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, Models, and the Internet for International Disaster Assistance

Author: Laurence Broun
Organization: Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of the Army for International Affairs

102 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0102
USA

Phone: 703-588-8054
Fax: 703-588-8490
laurence.broun@hqda.army.mil

Remote sensing, GIS, and models have a lengthy history in supporting planning, response, and recovery from disasters. Imagery has proven an excellent method for rapid assessment of conditions following the occurrence of a disaster, although the acquisition of airborne analog image sets constrains the ease and potential breadth of distribution of both the images and information derived by interpretative techniques. GIS and models linked to GIS for display are increasingly being used as part of emergency management to portray critical information about infrastructure, population and demographic information, consequences of an event, and progress in response to and recovery from disasters and to aid analysis. More widely available computer hardware and GIS software have increased the use of information technology as part of emergency response and recovery, but it is the advent and burgeoning use of the Internet that has fostered the integration of these technologies into the emergency managers' toolkit.

This presentation examines issues encountered in the development of a multinational database for the drainage basin of the Tizla River in the Trans-Carpathian region of Central Europe, which experienced a significant flood event in November 1998. A workshop was planned in Budapest, Hungary, hosted by the Hungarian National Directorate General for Disaster Management, with support from the U.S. Partnership for Peace Information Management System (PIMS). Participants from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and the Ukraine jointly developed a geospatial database for use with ArcView GIS and ArcView Internet Map Server software. This effort provided a demonstration of the potential difficulties and the benefits of regional, and ultimately global, disaster information networks. We conclude with recommendations for next steps in this process.