Abstract

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Paper
GISCorps--Guerilla Mapping for Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort
Track: Disaster Mangagement and Emergency Response
Author(s): Lucia Barbato

GISCorps volunteers worked and lived in a badly damaged train depot in Wiggins, Mississippi, 35 miles from the Mississippi coast. They assisted FEMA Community Relations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and community leaders of Stone County create damage assessment maps and reports. Damage reports on severe roof damage, trees on roofs, and excessive debris were collected by rural postal carriers and compiled in "Gatekeeper Referral Cards." The data was entered as attributes into a 911 address geodatabase. The address geodatabase was spatially joined with a search grid. Map books with search grid enabled FEMA to easily locate each address and give special attention to addresses reporting damage. Other mapping activities included development of a church map to notify citizens of the opening of a FEMA registration center, location of blue roof program, and availability of temporary housing. More than 500 maps were made to support the recovery effort in Stone County.

Lucia Barbato
Texas Tech University
Center for Geospatial Technology
208 Holden Hll
Lubbock , TX 79409
US
Phone: 806-742-2201
E-mail: lucia.barbato@ttu.edu