PDC Updates | Jul 30, 2010
iPad: Disaster Alert
Disaster Alert can go with you, wherever you take your iPhone or iPad. It is available from both iTunes and the AppShopper.

On July 15, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) made history with the release of “Disaster Alert,” the very first mobile multi-hazard tracking platform for the public, in the form of a free application that gives iPhone and iPad users access to PDC Active Hazards.

In the first ten days after the application became available, it was downloaded by nearly 5,200 users worldwide. Many of those users have provided PDC with enthusiastic feedback. In the first hour that Disaster Alert was offered by iTunes, messages like “I love this app!” and “Very interesting to view [hazards] from this perspective” came in followed by the familiar “Sent from my iPhone” or “Sent from Joe’s iPad.”

Disaster Alert puts information on active hazards, worldwide, literally in the hands of mobile device users. To avoid over-crowding, not all incidents are tracked, but only those surpassing certain thresholds. The term Active Hazards refers to a collection of current and real-time incidents, compiled from authoritative sources on events around the globe. The events in the system have been designated “potentially hazardous to people, property, or assets” by the automated processes of PDC’s DisasterAWARE decision support system and by disaster management professionals who use the system. Small and likely harmless events do not clutter the iPhone or iPad screen, making it possible to notice, see and become informed about events that are threatening.

The Disaster Alert application provides instant access to visualized data on 12 different hazard types: Drought, Earthquake, Flood, High Surf (Hawaii), High Wind (Hawaii), Man Made, Marine, Storm, Cyclone, Tsunami, Volcano and Wildfire.

The application’s features include:

The sources of data used in Disaster Alert are among the most trusted organizations in the world, including NOAA’s National Weather Service/Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center/Joint Typhoon Warning Center, U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center and Volcano Hazards Program, as well as the Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian Institution.

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