PDC Highlights
iPhone/iPad App for Disaster Around the Globe
PDC published Disaster Alert, a free-download application for
iPhone and iPad that gives users access to worldwide hazard and
disaster event data on July 15. The information can be viewed
on an interactive map, in quick-view lists or as a detailed
presentation on a single event. Disaster Alert is available
from iTunes and AppShopper.
The hazards available are current, real-time incidents,
compiled from authoritative sources on events around the globe
that 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.
Statewide Dam Safety Project Completed in Hawaii
On March 14, 2006, the Ka Loko Dam in Kilauea, Kauai, failed, resulting in seven deaths and massive destruction of property. Even though the storms on Kauai in the days leading up to the Ka Loko tragedy were extreme, the event brought the attention of the State of Hawaii to the possibility that some dams, both privately owned and public might not be maintained in a safe and reliable condition. Since 2006, PDC has been working with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and the Army Corps of Engineers to map, assess and report on every registered dam in the state, and to develop plans for improving dam safety and responding to dam failures. PDC’s contributions included potential-inundation and evacuation-zone mapping. This project—expanded several times during its four years of activity—was brought to a close in June 2010. Public reports and details are available online from DLNR.
Online Community of Climate Change Experts
Linkages between climate change impacts, disaster risk management, security and sustainable development have long been discussed and debated. However, detailed information and certain knowledge of the nature, timing and distribution of the effects of climate-variability-induced (or intensified) risks is hard to find, and constantly changing. Recognizing that disaster managers, decision-makers and communities lack the knowledge, information and “tools” needed for effective decision making, planning and humanitarian response to risks related to climate variability, PDC launched an initiative, in collaboration with Dr. Nguyen Huu Ninh of CERED, Vietnam, to bring together a small group of highly respected experts working in the field, called the International Advisory Panel (IAP), to lead workshops of a broader sampling of experts from around the world, in an effort to address the issue. This initiative is called the International Program on Climate Change and Variability Risk Reduction (IP-CVR) and it is supported by a social-media-style online community of experts who communicate in a “Collaboratorium.”
PDC’s Asia Pacific Natural Hazards Information Network Goes Global
PDC’s innovative Asia-Pacific Natural Hazards Information Network (APNHIN) provided opportunities for providers and consumers of geospatial information to share resources essential to disaster management activities in the Pacific region. Now, APNHIN has been expanded to serve users worldwide, and it has a new name: Global Hazards Information Network (GHIN). All the partners who made APNHIN invaluable are still onboard, providing information when it is needed, and they have been joined by the first of what are expected to be many resources for global and/or regional information covering areas beyond the Pacific. The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission, commonly called SOPAC, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs are among the new partners who have already joined GHIN. A fact sheet about GHIN has been posted on PDC’s website.
PDC Supports Battles with Wildfires
PDC supports governments and nongovernmental organizations in many ways, from risk and vulnerability assessments to the development of customized systems of software, hardware and training. Locally, however, PDC is sometimes directly involved with first responders in Hawaii, and particularly in Maui County. This was the case during several wildfires in this quarter. Here’s an example: PDC was contacted by Maui Fire Department when a wildfire was reported in the West Maui Mountains at around 10:30 PM Monday, June 7. By Tuesday morning, the Center was providing continuing fire mapping support to the firefighters, creating the products and delivering them both electronically and on paper, in person. PDC products included a series of maps, including fire-trace maps, used to share current information and to plan next-steps. PDC on Maui and Oahu also supplied data, including maps and highly refined population data to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in connection to this major wildfire, and by Wednesday, State of Hawaii firefighters were also using PDC products onsite. Maps and other imagery products were supplied throughout the week, during which the fire consumed approximately 6,000 acres.
PDC Provides U.S. Delegates to International Workshop
At the invitation Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Senior Geospatial Information Analyst Todd Bosse and Modeling Analyst Michael Chatman participated in the International Training Workshop (ITW) on Natural Disaster Reduction: Slopeland Disaster, May 10–14. The workshop focused on subjects such as monitoring and evacuation in connection with debris-flow and landslide. Bosse gave a lecture on the PDC program and the Center’s activities, capabilities and all-hazards early warning system; Chatman presented Modeling Inundation and Impacts: Inundation Models Applied by PDC. There were 28 participants from nine countries: Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Nepal and the U.S., and PDC’s representatives were the U.S. delegates to the conference. An article has been posted with more details on the ITW.
Interns Doing Summer Projects at PDC
Three college students and one college graduate have joined the PDC team this summer as interns. All will be making valuable contributions to a number of different projects. Their assignments include: geocoding historical hazards databases; researching and updating content regarding hazards for PDC’s public website; collecting and processing information that will enable monitoring of a number of Climate Change Indicator sites around the world; creating exposure maps for schools in Hawaii to understand proximity to flood hazard zones and tsunami evacuation zones; and updating metadata records for datasets received from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
|
