Best Practices for Mission Applications

DisasterAWARE and iEMOPS – Decision Support Applications for Disaster Early Warning and Response

—Malinda Braland, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC)

Since 1996 the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) has delivered effective solutions for disaster management and humanitarian assistance communities worldwide. Now PDC's GIS-based Decision Support System, DisasterAWARE, is used by various military, government, and non-government organizations across the globe/world. Its value is frequently driven home during large-scale disaster events such as those experienced during the Pakistan Flood, Haiti Earthquake (7.0 M, 12 Jan 2010) and Chile Earthquake (8.8 M, 27 Feb 2010) and in the Pacific last year (Manila flooding, Sept 2009; Samoa tsunami, 29 Sept 2009, Padang EQ, 7.6Mw, 30 Sept 2009). To better assist our DoD customers, PDC has released a new instantiation of DisasterAWARE called Risk Assessment, Planning & Incident Decision Support (RAPIDS) and still maintains Emergency Operations (EMOPS) for support to government and nongovernment agencies. DisasterAWARE capabilities are also available for iPhone and iPad users who can receive and view alerts and collect and transmit map data from the field with the iEMOPS application.