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In partnership with Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), the Government of Lao PDR kicked off a new disaster risk reduction initiative, bringing together multiple stakeholders to participate in a National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment. Participants included the National Disaster Management Office of Lao PDR under the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Lao Statistic Bureau, Lao Police, Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Lao Red Cross, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), World Food Programme, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and UN Development Programme.

Photograph: PDC

Vientiane, Lao PDR — On June 17, 2026, Lao PDR solidified its commitment to building disaster resilience, joining 33 countries worldwide to partner with the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) on a National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment (NDPBA). More than an assessment, the program will equip Lao PDR with PDC’s advanced technology ecosystem and analytical capabilities to put assessment data into action to save lives and inform decision-making.

Carried out in partnership with Lao’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), under the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MoLSW), the initiative was kicked off during a workshop in the capital city of Vientiane, convening representatives from across government ministries, United Nations agencies, and the broader humanitarian sector.

In 2024, Nu Village in Lao's Cai Province was struck by a landslide triggered by flash flooding, burying 37 homes.

Photograph by VNExpress.net

A challenging risk landscape

Lao PDR’s risk profile involves seasonal flooding which inundates vulnerable communities along the Mekong River and its tributaries, tropical storms that can trigger deadly landslides across the mountainous north, and millions of hectares of land that remain affected by unexploded ordnance (UXO)—a man-made hazard stemming from a legacy of past conflicts that continues to claim lives and constrain land use today.

Against this backdrop, the government of Lao PDR is confronting these challenges through the scientific advancements of PDC and shared commitments of partners across sectors to protect the nation’s most vulnerable communities.

Lao soldiers aid in the rescue of buried villagers following a massive landslie in Nu Village, Cai Province in Lao in 2024.

Photograph by VNExpress.net

"This is a meaningful workshop to initiate an important activity in Lao to help reduce disaster risk and the threat to livelihoods. We are looking forward to this project which will help us build disaster resilience at the central, provincial, and local levels."

“This is a meaningful workshop to initiate an important activity in Lao to help reduce disaster risk and the threat to livelihoods. We are looking forward to this project, which will help us build disaster resilience at the central, provincial, and local levels," said Kindavong LUANGRATH, Deputy Director General, Social Welfare Department, MoLSW.

Risk awareness at every level

PDC’s approach to the national baseline assessment goes well beyond a broad-stroke national risk inventory; it assesses risk at a more granular level and delivers subnational, locally grounded insights that decision-makers need to effectively plan for and respond to disaster risks. The year-long project engages multiple stakeholders who hold important pieces of the disaster risk reduction puzzle, which, when brought together, offer a comprehensive picture of risk and vulnerability across Lao PDR.

"Every disaster is ultimately local, its true impacts determined not by national averages, but by what exists on the ground in each community. Understanding risk in Lao PDR means understanding the distinct vulnerabilities of each community."

“Every disaster is ultimately local, its true impacts determined not by national averages, but by what exists on the ground in each community. Understanding risk in Lao PDR means understanding the distinct vulnerabilities of each community. The NDPBA program gives leaders at every level the subnational intelligence they need to act on those distinctions—with speed, confidence, and the full weight of verified data behind every decision,” said Dr. Erin Hughey, Deputy Executive Director, Pacific Disaster Center.

Turning data into action from day one

The assessment also provides a comprehensive analysis of national disaster management capacities, identifying gaps and limitations and providing tools to help prioritize investments across the nation.

“A defining aspect of this program is that it does not ask countries to wait for a final assessment before seeing results. From the outset, assessment findings are integrated into PDC’s DisasterAWARE technology ecosystem to give nations an almost immediate picture of their real-world disaster risk profiles, the ability to share and exchange information, and the ability to understand vulnerabilities,” said Victoria Leat, Asia Pacific Advisor and Lao NDPBA Country Lead.

Through DisasterAWARE, decision-makers can monitor active hazards, rapidly assess potential impacts to vulnerable populations, critical infrastructure, and community lifelines to determine what actions are needed and which agencies to mobilize. DisasterAWARE grounds these capabilities in local data from day one.

A coalition for resilience

The timing of Lao PDR’s initiative is especially significant. A robust coalition of United Nations partners—including the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)—is already active in the country, and the assessment arrives at a moment when stakeholders are actively seeking to consolidate efforts, align data systems, and work more efficiently amid constrained resources.

 

Photographs by PDC

The AHA Centre demonstrates DisasterAWARE capabilities that its Emergency Operations Center leverages through the use of DMRS, one of several customized solutions that make up PDC's DisasterAWARE ecosystem. 

Photograph by PDC

"..it takes only two AHA Centre staff to cover all of the disaster monitoring and analysis responsibilities of the ASEAN region."

The NDPBA’s multi-stakeholder framework is designed precisely for this collective approach, unifying efforts through DisasterAWARE so all organizations, including Lao PDR’s key national stakeholders, can formulate informed decisions and operate from a common picture of risk and a foundation of validated data. National stakeholders who are integrated into the project include Lao’s Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, Lao Statistics Bureau, Lao Red Cross, Lao Police, and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), among others, to pool knowledge and collectively build a more complete picture of national risk.

“As a result of DMRS , it takes only two AHA Centre staff to cover all of the disaster monitoring and analysis responsibilities of the ASEAN region. We are pleased to see this same capability being brought to Lao through this project,” said the AHA Centre during the NDPBA kick-off workshop. The AHA Centre’s DMRS is one of several versions of customized solutions offered by PDC through its DisasterAWARE ecosystem.

Support from other stakeholders was expressed during the workshop as well.

Photograph: Pacific Disaster Center (PDC)

"This project represents the United States’ continued commitment to supporting disaster risk reduction in Lao PDR."

—U.S. Embassy Mission Disaster Relief Officer John Drollette

“We pledge strong support for this program and will do our best to collaborate for this project to be a success.”

— Lao Statistics Bureau representative

An investment that endures

Beyond the deliverables, the program will produce a five-year plan of action and cultivate a culture of data literacy and institutional confidence in evidence-based decision-making that endures long after the final findings are delivered.

When a disaster strikes and critical decisions must be made under pressure, this embedded capacity is what makes the difference. Among the 33 countries that have completed PDC’s program, one consistent outcome is evident: when communities have granular, locally verified risk data integrated into real-time decision tools, they act faster, target resources more precisely, and save more lives.

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Pictured: Philippines Office of Civil Defense (OCD) coordinates response to a complex crisis following major impacts from a massive M7.8 earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines.

Photograph: OCD Philippines

At 7:37 a.m. on June 8, 2026, an M7.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Maasim, Sarangani—one of the most powerful earthquakes to affect the southern Philippines in years.

The rupture generated a tsunami warning across nine coastal provinces and triggered landslide threats across four regions. Tens of thousands of families were immediately forced to move to safety and responders had to act fast.

Earthquake Event Synopsis

Collapsed building in General Santos, Mindanao Island, Philippines, after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Photograph: AOL.com

Key Response Challenges

On June 8, 2026, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Maasim, Sarangani—one of the most powerful quakes to affect the southern Philippines in years. A tsunami warning was issued across nine coastal provinces.

Source: Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development DROMIC Report #15, June 15, 2026

A PDC Event Brief was generated within minutes of impact, providing critical insights for response mobilization.

Making decisions at scale in a race against the clock

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Emergency Operations Center in Manila conducted televised public briefings using PhilAWARE throughout the response to the M7.8 earthquake in Mindanao.  Watch full briefing at: https://www.facebook.com/

Photograph: OCD Philippines

Needing to take immediate action before a complete understanding of the situation could emerge, decision-makers relied on PhilAWARE to develop a common operating picture and coordinate a complex, multi-agency response.

PhilAWARE not only provided the early warning but also integrated situational awareness and real-time insights needed to prioritize actions, direct limited resources rapidly and effectively, and support life-saving decisions when every minute mattered.

Above: Earthquake early warning visualized with advanced impact analytics, tsunami travel times, watch and warning zones derived from PhilAWARE and DisasterAWARE Pro. 

Photographs: PDC

An event of this magnitude is precisely why the Government of the Philippines, through its OCD, invested years building preparedness capacity—working with Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) to ensure the people, processes, and technological capabilities were in place ahead of a catastrophe. Located at the convergence of multiple tectonic plates, the Philippines is one of the most seismically active nations in the world and one of the most hazard prone. The question was never whether another major event would occur—it was whether communities and institutions would be ready when it did.

Through its partnership with PDC on the development and institutionalization of PhilAWARE—one of many interconnected solutions offered through PDC's DisasterAWARE technology ecosystem—the Philippines was able to immediately mobilize its response to the M7.8 earthquake. The tool was already embedded into OCD's Emergency Operations Center Standard Operating Procedures, funded through dedicated national budget allocations, and tested through multi-year training and exercise programs with PDC.

That long-term investment meant that when the ground shook on June 8, there was no hesitation. OCD activated PhilAWARE immediately, and the response infrastructure built around it—analytical capabilities, trained personnel, and established workflows—was ready.

Managing a disaster of this scale across four regions demanded more than field reports. It required a shared, data-driven picture of what was happening, where, and to whom—one that could keep pace with rapidly evolving conditions. PhilAWARE provided that picture throughout the response.

One ecosystem, many layers of response

The DisasterAWARE ecosystem reinforced the regional dimensions of the response architecture—which included the use of PhilAWARE, DisasterAWARE Pro, and the ASEAN Disaster Management and Response System (DMRS). These separate but interlinked technologies helped connect the national response to broader ASEAN disaster management frameworks and enabled a kind of collaborative agility.

Above: The AHA Centre shares situational awareness and coordinates regional response mechanisms using its DMRS during the M7.8 Mindanao earthquake response.

Photographs: AHA Centre

Above: PDC led advanced PhilAWARE data administration training with OCD personnel during the M7.8 Mindanao earthquake to enable real-time integration of locally gathered field data supporting national and regional response efforts.

Photographs: PDC / OCD Philippines

How preparedness made the difference

When an earthquake of this magnitude strikes, the outcomes depend heavily on what was built before the event—the systems, the institutions, the training, the practiced operational workflows. The Philippines has consistently invested in all of these, in partnership with PDC, over more than a decade. PhilAWARE's institutionalization by OCD since 2024—with dedicated national funding and SOPs embedded in the EOC—means that this platform is not dependent on any significant external stakeholder for decision-making support under pressure.

One indication of the system's deep institutionalization—and how it continued to improve under pressure—was OCD's request for advanced PhilAWARE data administration training from PDC. This enabled the autonomous integration of locally gathered field data by responders into the platform in real time, extending its analytical reach to reflect ground-truth conditions alongside national datasets.

Adapting and extending capabilities mid-response reflects what years of joint training, exercising, and partnership have made possible—enabling the Philippines to leverage PDC's technology and expertise in ways that are tailored to its unique needs and operational realities.

Major Outcomes

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Georgetown University and MedStar Health leverage PDC's DisasterAWARE capabilities inside the World Cup Health Security Operations Center (HSOC) for integrated and coordinated situational awareness.

Photograph: Georgetown University

With more than 6.5 million fans from over 100 countries converging on cities across the United States, Mexico, and Canada for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the public health stakes are significant. 

Mass gatherings at this scale create conditions where localized outbreaks can rapidly become international events—and where timely, integrated situational awareness is essential for the officials responsible for protecting public health. This summer, that critical role is being filled by a new Health Security Operations Center (HSOC) that relies on the University of Hawaiʻi’s Pacific Disaster Center (PDC)’s DisasterAWARE platform as a key data source and decision-support tool.

Georgetown University and MedStar Health established the HSOC under their joint National Center for Health Security and Resilience, with operations beginning June 1. The team is leveraging DisasterAWARE to fuse disparate data streams from wastewater surveillance, electronic health records, hospitalizations, and real-time health reports gathered across all 16 host cities—integrating and analyzing disease signals to give decision-makers early, actionable warning when risks emerge. More than 350 organizations, including hospital emergency managers, state and local health officials, and federal agencies, are enrolled to receive the HSOC’s daily situation reports.

PDC's Senior Advisor and former Deputy Administrator of FEMA helps HSOC team maximize the use of DisasterAWARE as the 2026 World Cup games commence.

Photograph: Georgetown University

These capabilities are helping the HSOC visualize and quantify health risks across host city regions, and deliver the coordinated, multidisciplinary situational awareness that HSOC Director Rebecca Katz describes as impossible for any “single institution or jurisdiction to provide alone.”

“Working alongside MedStar and Georgetown officials on the inside of the HSOC, DisasterAWARE is revolutionizing how we monitor disease during large-scale events,” said Tim Manning, former Deputy Administrator of FEMA and Senior Advisor at PDC. “PDC’s hazard intelligence capabilities bridge health data streams from numerous sources into a single, coherent operating picture, significantly enhancing the way we protect public health when the world comes together.”

“DisasterAWARE is revolutionizing how we monitor disease during large-scale events."

HSOC team members monitor World Cup 2026 health security from 16 different sources using the centralization capabilities of DisasterAWARE.

Photograph: Georgetown University

Hazard Intelligence, Complex Missions

PDC’s support during this high-profile event shines a spotlight on the criticality of these capabilities at a global scale—and demonstrates how purpose-built hazard intelligence, applied at the intersection of technology and human expertise, can be rapidly adapted to meet complex, emerging missions far beyond its traditional domains. For an organization that has spent decades building the tools, frameworks, and partnerships that help nations anticipate and respond to disasters of every kind, supporting the HSOC is both a natural extension of that mission and a powerful affirmation of its global relevance.

"DisasterAWARE was built to deliver clarity in the world’s most complex, high-stakes environments..."

 “DisasterAWARE was built to deliver clarity in the world’s most complex, high-stakes environments, and a global event of this magnitude, the World Cup, is exactly that kind of environment,” said Erin Hughey, Deputy Executive Director of the Pacific Disaster Center. “Seeing our platform serve as a cornerstone of national health security operations at this scale is a powerful testament to what PDC has built over decades: a globally trusted capability that protects people wherever the threat originates.”

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Hurricane Otis, fueled by the high sea surface temperatures of an ongoing El Niño season in 2023, made landfall in Acapulco, Mexico, causing devastation to the populous tourist destination. Photograph: New York Times NOAA forecasters are sounding the alarm: super El Niño is coming, and it could mean record impacts during this year's hurricane season—especially across the Eastern and Central Pacific basins. While El Niño hurricane seasons in the Atlantic are normally quieter than average, that’s not always the case, as with the El Niño of 2023, which saw a record-breaking 20 named storms and 7 hurricanes. Disaster managers should plan now to face compressed hurricane response timelines and compound, cascading events like flooding, landslides, and other secondary impacts. Systems not equipped to deal with simultaneous events have a high potential to become overwhelmed. According to NOAA, warm waters resulting from a 2026 super El Nino could potentially supercharge hurricane activity in the Eastern Pacific, saying the first tropical system could form as early as mid-May, 2026. Photograph by NOAA“What separates agencies that thrive during a super El Niño hurricane season from those that struggle isn’t speed during the crisis—it’s the work done before it to understand worst-case scenarios, catalog critical assets, and leverage risk intelligence tools like DisasterAWARE. Exercising those tools and staff in multi-jurisdictional coordination weeks or months in advance is what gives leaders the decision advantage when the first major storm system develops,” said Dr. Erin Hughey, Deputy Executive Director of Pacific Disaster Center (PDC). Advanced technologies like DisasterAWARE are designed to help decision makers not only monitor early storm formations but also anticipate what these storms mean for communities and how to act effectively to mitigate multi-hazard impacts.

"What separates agencies that thrive during a super El Niño hurricane season from those that struggle isn’t speed during the crisis—it’s the work done before it..."

Satellite image of record-breaking trio of Pacific hurricanes, Kilo, Ignacio, Jimena, and Tropical Depression 14E forming to the East during the 2015 El Niño season. That year, an extraordinary 16 tropical cyclones formed in or passed through the Pacific basin, including three Category 4 storms in late August alone. Photograph by NOAA According to Hughey, communities and infrastructure may be exposed to unusual levels of precipitation, winds, and secondary hazards. Pointing to the recent historic flooding disaster across Hawaiʻi in March 2026, Hughey emphasized this is just a preview of what similar or stronger El Niño-fueled storms could unleash on communities later this year. Super El Niño hurricane risks include:

• More intense tropical cyclones fueled by dramatically elevated sea surface temperatures
• Anomalous storm tracks that expose communities to direct impacts from systems they rarely encounter
• Increased frequency of extreme precipitation leading to flash floods and landslides
• Higher storm surge potential due to warmer ocean conditions and altered atmospheric pressure patterns
• Extended and intensified rainfall seasons that saturate soils and overwhelm drainage infrastructure

Building the decision advantage before hurricane season arrives

“During a super El Niño season, storms can intensify quickly, shift faster than normal, and produce secondary, cascading hazards like floods, landslides, and damaging storm surge. Our unique multi-hazard monitoring and risk intelligence capabilities help disaster managers keep ahead of evolving threats and fill critical knowledge and monitoring gaps,” said PDC’s Director of Applied Science, Dr. Joseph Green. Leveraging its scientific partnerships with NOAA, NASA, and a wealth of other authoritative data sources, PDC brings together forecast information for multiple hazards into its DisasterAWARE early warning platform. To support super El Niño hurricane preparedness, the platform provides real-time early-cycle hurricane forecast track analysis, wind and precipitation forecasts, information about sea surface temperature anomalies, probabilistic storm surge, and probabilistic flood and landslide information. “We analyze a variety of hurricane and weather data using our all-hazard impact model (AIM) to determine the level of threat a hazard may pose. We then augment the information with our proprietary AI for Humanity technology to issue alerts and generate rapid analytics on impacts to populations and infrastructure in near real time.”

"We analyze a variety of hurricane and weather data using our all-hazard impact model to determine the level of threat a hazard may pose. We then augment the information with our proprietary AI for Humanity technology."

Event Brief tropical cyclone wind impact analytics in near real-time via DisasterAWARE

NOAA tropical cyclone rainfall forecast in DisasterAWARE

Critical infrastructure monitoring and exposure analysis in DisasterAWARE

Analysis of critical infrastructure exposure to storm surge in DisasterAWARE

Global flash flood hazard zones in DisasterAWARE

Global landslide susceptibility data in DisasterAWARE

Disaster managers should set up Smart Alerts in DisasterAWARE to ensure their notifications are ready to fire the moment a tropical cyclone is detected. Once a tropical cyclone is detected, be sure to set up Smart Alerts for secondary hazards floods, landslides, and tornadoes (U.S. only). Take our quick online tutorial for instructions on Smart Alert setup. To protect the safety of assets and receive alerts about threats to essential systems that communities depend on, be sure to integrate your critical asset data using our secure protocols. Take our in-depth online training course on critical asset and infrastructure protection. Track and monitor tropical cyclone risks in real-time, accessing the latest forecasts and observations in one location. Below are a few examples of forecast and observational data related to tropical cyclones available in the system::

• Early-Cycle to Long-Range Hurricane Forecast Tracks and Impacts (Pacific and Atlantic): Days of lead time to position resources and begin coordination before landfall
• 5-Day Rainfall Forecat (Global): Anticipate flooding conditions across multiple basins before they develop Precipitation Forecasts, Observed (Global): Track the amount of accumulated precipitation over the first 10 days of the forecast period in near real time
• Estimated Storm Surge (Global): Projected coastal inundation zones tied to specific storm scenarios, updated as tracks evolve
• Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (Global): Monitor the underlying ocean conditions driving storm intensity and track shifts
• Winds (Surface Velocity and Forecast): Determine wind direction and magnitude of wind speed Flood Probability Alerting (Global): NASA-PDC machine learning model combining hydrological models with satellite data, updated multiple times daily
• Landslide Probability Alerting (Global): NASA-PDC machine learning model combining slope, soil moisture, geology, and near real-time precipitation data
• Tornado Activity: Incudes watches and warnings, tornado probability, hail, and wind brought about by tropical cyclones.
• Live Cameras (U.S.): Visual confirmation of evacuation routes, contraflow operations, road conditions, and coastal flooding impacts.

Get automated wildfire analysis of who and what is in the path of a tropical cyclone, surfacing the highest-priority risks and predictive analytics so you can focus on action, not data gathering. Event Brief provides rapid analysis of where the tropical cyclone is, how it is progressing, and who and what is at risk, using AI to rapidly analyze to translate complex scientific data into immediate impact analytics.   Use DisasterAWARE to replicate complex tropical cyclone events with cascading impacts from storm surge, flooding, landslides, and other hazards during multi-jurisdictional tabletop or fully functional exercises—ensuring agencies are not building situational awareness from scratch during a crisis. Leverage advanced models and historical tropical cyclone data to assess threats and inform planning and recovery from tropical cyclones. Below are examples of just some of the authoritative data available in DisasterAWARE to inform planning, resource pre-positioning, and recovery:

• Historical Storm Track and Intensity Analysis: Review how past Super El Niño seasons have shaped storm behavior in your region
• Flood Hazard Exposure Zones: Identify communities at the highest cumulative risk and prioritize mitigation accordingly
• Landslide Exposure Zones: Identify communities at the highest cumulative landslide risk and prioritize protective measures

Encourage your community to download PDC's free Disaster Alert app to remain alert about wildfire threats in their locations. PDC’s Free Disaster Alert™ Mobile App All-hazard forecasts for the public—free At the public level, PDC’s Disaster Alert™ mobile app extends the life-saving intelligence DisasterAWARE directly to communities worldwide. Delivering authoritative, real-time hazard alerts across all major threat types, the app empowers individuals to take protective action when it matters most—augmenting emergency services during peak response periods and strengthening overall community resilience. Disaster Alert covers all major natural hazard types: • Tropical cyclones • Flooding • Tsunamis and high surf • Earthquakes • Volcanoes • Wildfires • Severe storms and tornadoes • Drought and extreme heat • Winter storms • Landslides • and More… No subscription required: Free on iOS and Android ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) uses its custom version of DisasterAWARE, DMRS, to monitor and respond to Super Typhoon Yagi in 2024. Photograph by PDC

DisasterAWARE allows you to focus on action, not data gathering

DisasterAWARE brings together information about converging weather conditions, analyzes potential impacts, and provides robust monitoring and risk analysis augmented by AI. These technologies enable decision makers to effectively deal with a variety of direct and secondary hurricane hazard impacts. “A super El Niño should trigger a shift in how agencies understand and manage tropical cyclone risk in 2026—from reactive response to proactive intelligence built before the first storm forms. As compound events continue to grow in scale and frequency, so must our tools and strategies,” said PDC’s Dr. Hughey. In a world where multi-hazard events are growing in scale and complexity, preparedness depends on visibility, speed, and informed decision-making. With the right tools in place, agencies can move from reacting to disasters to anticipating them—and ultimately, building more resilient communities.

"A super El Niño should trigger a shift in how agencies understand and manage tropical cyclone risk in 2026—from reactive response to proactive intelligence built before the first storm forms. "

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Related News

Albania leverages PDC's DisasterAWARE risk intelligence technology during a multi-agency wildfire exercise in 2024. The exercise was part of a larger wildfire disaster management capacity-building partnership between the U.S. Forest Service, PDC, and participating Balkan nations.

Photograph: Pacific Disaster Center (PDC)

In recent years, “wildfire weather” has emerged as a critical concept in disaster management. 

Catastrophes like the Lahaina wildfire in Hawai‘i, the California Palisades fire, and Canada’s wildfire disaster of 2023, illustrate the need for a fundamental shift in preparedness and planning that leverages advanced technologies for early awareness about wildfires and wildfire weather. Understanding and anticipating wildfires is no longer optional; it is foundational to effective preparedness, response, and resilience.

One of the deadliest and largest recorded wildfires in U.S. history, the 2023 Lahaina wildfire in Hawai‘i, was fanned by a combination of weather conditions, including drought, 67 mph winds, and downslope gusts.

Photograph by Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via ABC News 

“Saving lives and protecting communities from wildfires depends on decisions made in moments of uncertainty. That’s why it’s essential for emergency managers to have trusted data, actionable insights, and rapid analysis of risks all in one place—so they can move quickly, prioritize effectively, and stay ahead of evolving threats like wildfire weather,” said Dr. Erin Hughey, Deputy Executive Director of Pacific Disaster Center (PDC).

"...it’s essential for emergency managers to have trusted data, actionable insights, and rapid analysis of risks all in one place."

From technology to action: DisasterAWARE

To address this growing challenge, PDC has released several new advanced technologies that leverage advanced modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance global wildfire detection, wildfire weather monitoring, and risk assessment through its early warning and risk intelligence platform, DisasterAWARE.

“Through our partnership with NASA, we are now continuously receiving remotely sensed satellite data from around the world and integrating it into DisasterAWARE to gain a clear picture of where fires are burning and how they’re spreading. We analyze this information to determine the level of threat, track the fire’s progression, and augment information with artificial intelligence to issue alerts and analytics in near real-time,” said PDC’s Director of Applied Science Dr. Joseph Green.

“This is especially powerful during peak fire weather when multiple simultaneous ignitions and rapid wind shifts can overwhelm manual monitoring or become dangerous for flyovers. It also fills critical knowledge and monitoring gaps that exist in remote geographies or areas with lower capacity for observation and early warning.”

DisasterAWARE offers capabilities that enhance wildfire weather and risk awareness by integrating multiple datasets and robust monitoring tools to tackle the triad of wildfire behavior such as weather, fuel, and topography. These come together into a unified operational picture that supports the full disaster management lifecycle and enables better anticipation, analysis, and response to wildfire threats.

NASA detects wildfires globally using satellite sensors like VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), providing near real-time data through its FIRMS web application that continuously feeds DisasterAWARE. These aggregated, active-fire observations from multiple satellite sensors are enriched by PDC to distinguish sensed data from non-wildfire heat sources like power plants, volcanoes, and other environmental and urban heat sources.

Photograph by NASA

Global wildfire early warning with customizable Smart Alerts in DisasterAWARE

NOAA Global Forecast System, 16-day surface temperature animated visualization in DisasterAWARE

Daily Wildfire Initial Spread Index (ISI) expected rate of fire spread displayed in DisasterAWARE.

Wildfire Event Brief impact analytics in near real-time via DisasterAWARE

Global wildfire hotspot intensity and progression, and U.S. weather station data in DisasterAWARE

Air Quality Index (U.S. only) hourly update from the Environmental Protection Agency in DisasterAWARE

Disaster managers should set up Smart Alerts in DisasterAWARE to ensure their notifications are ready to fire the moment a wildfire is detected.

Take our quick online tutorial for instructions on Smart Alert setup.

To protect the safety of assets and receive alerts about threats to essential systems that communities depend on, be sure to integrate your critical asset data using our secure protocols.

Take our in-depth online training course on critical asset and infrastructure protection.

Learn how to track and monitor wildfire risks using real-time weather observations, forecast wildfire weather, and modeled risk information from one location. Below are some examples of forecast and observational data available in the system:

• Drought Conditions (Global): Identify regions where prolonged dryness increases fuel vulnerability.
• Extreme Heat (Global): Identify where wildfire may be intensified or strain response systems.
• Winds (Global): Monitor changing wind conditions that can alter fire direction instantly.
• Wildfire Hotspot Intensity Grid (Global): Identify wildfire hotspots and intensity and track the spread of wildfire.
  Air Quality Index (Global): Monitor smoke impacts on public health through visualized smoke-impact footprints and remotely sensed air quality data that put vulnerable populations at risk far beyond the flames themselves.
• Wildfire Weather Stations (U.S.): Provide localized, ground-based weather observations.

Get automated wildfire analysis of who and what is in the path of a wildfire with Event Brief,  surfacing the highest-priority risks and predictive analytics so you can focus on action, not data gathering. Event Brief provides rapid analysis of where the fire is, how it has progressed, and who and what is at risk. Using AI to rapidly analyze raw fire detection data and translate the information into immediate impact analytics, decision makers get potential impacts to population and critical infrastructure within minutes.

Use DisasterAWARE to replicate complex wildfire events for multi-agency exercises, such as multi-jurisdictional tabletop and fully functional exercises—ensuring agencies are not building situational awareness from scratch during a crisis.

Leverage advanced wildfire risk models and historical data to assess wildfire threats and inform planning and recovery from wildfires. Below are examples of just some of the authoritative data available in DisasterAWARE:

• Wildfire Weather Index (Global): Assess combined fire risk based on weather patterns
• Wildfire Initial Spread Index (Global): Estimate how quickly a fire may expand after ignition
• Historical Wildfire Impacts (Global):
• Wildfire Suppression Difficulty Index (U.S.): Evaluate challenges responders may face in controlling fires
• Wildfire Burn Probability (U.S.): Predict areas most likely to experience fire activity and identify rapidly escalating zones

Encourage your community to download PDC's free Disaster Alert app to remain alert about wildfire threats in their locations.

PDC’s Free Disaster Alert™ Mobile App

All-hazard forecasts for the public—free

At the public level, PDC’s Disaster Alert™ mobile app extends the life-saving intelligence DisasterAWARE directly to communities worldwide. Delivering authoritative, real-time hazard alerts across all major threat types, the app empowers individuals to take protective action when it matters most—augmenting emergency services during peak response periods and strengthening overall community resilience.

Disaster Alert covers all major natural hazard types:
• Tropical cyclones
• Flooding
• Tsunamis and high surf
• Earthquakes
• Volcanoes
• Wildfires
• Severe storms and tornadoes
• Drought and extreme heat
• Winter storms
• Landslides
• and More…

No subscription required: Free on iOS and Android

Photograph by PDC

A new standard for wildfire risk intelligence

Wildfires are no longer isolated incidents, but part of a broader, systemic hazard profile. Environmental conditions that influence the ignition, behavior, and spread of wildfires must be taken into consideration. Key factors include:

• Drought conditions that dry out vegetation, creating abundant fuel
• Low humidity that accelerates combustion
• High winds that rapidly spread flames and embers
• Heatwaves that intensify fire behavior and strain response systems
• Topography (slope, aspect, and terrain) that influences fire intensity, direction, rate of spread, and accessibility
• Early detection that supports early action

DisasterAWARE brings together information about these converging factors, which create environments where fires ignite more easily, burn more intensely, and spread more unpredictably—often in places densely populated or previously considered lower risk.

“Wildfire weather represents a shift in how we understand and manage fire risk—from reactive suppression to proactive intelligence. As conditions continue to evolve, so must the tools and strategies used to address them,” said PDC’s Dr. Hughey.

“By integrating global data, predictive analytics, and real-time ignition detection into DisasterAWARE, PDC has built a powerful tool to empower emergency and disaster managers to stay ahead of wildfire threats—transforming uncertainty into actionable insight.”

In a world where wildfire weather is growing in threat to populations and critical infrastructure, preparedness depends on visibility, speed, and informed decision-making. With the right tools in place, agencies can move from reacting to disasters to anticipating them—and ultimately, building more resilient communities.

"As conditions continue to evolve, so must the tools and strategies used to address them."

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