Maui Center's Daily Reporting Supports Emergency Managers

PDC Executive Director Dr. Allen Clark and Senior Weather Analyst Glenn James (standing). James spearheads the creation of the Center's "Hazards Briefs." (Source: PDC).

PDC's recent coverage for emergency managers has included: (Left) Typhoon Chanchu's impact on East Asia (Source: CBS News); and (Right) continuing volcanic activity on Indonesia's Mt. Merapi (Source: Associated Press).

On May 3rd of this year, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake jolted the Kingdom of Tonga resulting in tsunami alerts throughout the Pacific Islands. Soon after, Indonesia’s Mt. Merapi grabbed international headlines when it began a series of violent volcanic eruptions. In mid-May, Typhoon Chanchu impacted the Philippines, Vietnam, and China—claiming dozens of lives and forcing a staggering one million people to evacuate. And this week, a very active Atlantic hurricane season has been predicted to unfold on the heels of a year that shattered records across the board.

For a decade, the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), headquartered in Maui, Hawaii, has kept local, national, regional and international emergency managers abreast of complex situations like these through daily reporting and dissemination throughout the region.

"As an 'all-hazards' Center, we are engaged in a wide variety of activities that foster disaster-resilient communities through the application of science, information, and technology," said PDC Executive Director Allen Clark. "The daily reports we provide emergency managers may not receive a great deal of public visibility, but the impact they have made in the emergency management community is extremely significant."

PDC’s Senior Weather Analyst Glenn James spearheads the creation of the PDC’s "Hazard Briefs" by generating and disseminating tailored daily tropical cyclone reports, hazard-related overviews, and weather analysis.

"Our goal is to present some of the most important disaster-related news in a useable format for extremely busy emergency managers," says James. "Nations such as Fiji, Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Philippines, as well as our home state of Hawaii have informed us that this information is making a difference."

During a series of "back-to-back" typhoon events that struck the Philippines in 2004, Philippine emergency officials used this reporting and PDC’s web site as a basis for briefing President Arroyo.

"As hurricane seasons begin again in the East and Central Pacific, as well as in the Atlantic, it becomes even more important to tightly synthesize information for those who may eventually be responding," concludes James.