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Disaster Relief after Pakistan's Earthquake
posted by Satri
on Friday October 21, @08:51AM
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from the helping-building-a-better-world dept.
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Khaled Saeed writes "In the wake of the massive earthquake in Pakistan, there is an urgent need to compile a GIS based Disaster Relief/Management Initiative. The amount of human suffering is monumental and would increase manifold if a coordinated and efficient effort is not launched immediately.
Would there be volunteers from the global GIS community who could share experiences, tips and application in this program?"
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ReliefWeb and GeoEye Foundation: Maps and Data for Humanitarian Emergencies and Disasters 1 comment
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I recently rediscovered ReliefWeb, which provides maps for humanitarian emergencies and disasters. Several maps are published every day. From their about: "ReliefWeb is the world’s leading on-line gateway to information (documents and maps) on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. An independent vehicle of information, designed specifically to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance, it provides timely, reliable and relevant information as events unfold, while emphasizing the coverage of "forgotten emergencies" at the same time." Closely related, the GeoCarta blog tells us GeoEye has formed a non-profit organization to give away satellite imagery for educational and humanitarian uses. Use Here's the press release.
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Disaster Relief after Pakistan's Earthquake
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GISCorps?
(Score:2, Interesting)( http://lordkingsquirrel.com/ )
Re: Disaster Relief after Pakistan's Earthquake
(Score:3, Informative)Dear Khaled,
When it comes to set up a disaster management GIS, it is important to think wisely about what such GIS is aiming to achieve.
I have been interested in the development of GIS in the field of disaster management for a few years now. Here are my personal thoughts on this matter.
It is always best to keep it simple, as time is short, and mapped data is needed. So,
- when it comes to diseminating maps for relief organisations, i would look for Reliefweb website ( http://www.reliefweb.int/ [reliefweb.int] ) which is a well established portal for NGOs to exchange / centralised informations.
they have a map section ( http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/doc114?OpenFo
The maps come in PDF or Jpeg format, which is a convinent format / size as internet access may be scarce in those locations.
{added}
Also, Damien Buisson, another member of the GISRS list, mentioned something very important : the International Charter which aims at "providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through authorized users" ( http://www.disasterscharter.org/main_e.html [disasterscharter.org] ).
ANd the charter had been activated for this very Earthquake ( http://www.disasterscharter.org/disasters/CALLID_
{end}
- if you are willing to provide access to up to large and diversed GIS data and enable other users to use, view, print them.. well, we are pointing at webGIS. Such things were developped in the aftermath of last year asianTsunami. It requires expertise to set it up, experienced GIS end-user, and efficient network to diffuse data.
- here are a few examples, not all tsunami related
Tsunami Disaster Mapping for Indian Ocean Coastal regions : http://mapsherpa.com/tsunami/ [mapsherpa.com]
Mapserver in support of Tsunami relief effort in Thailand: http://mapserver.hondalab.star.ait.ac.th/tsunami/
The Tsunami Web map server was created to "archive, analyze, publish and share geo-spatial information regarding the Tsunami disaster that has hit Thailand on 26th December 2004".
Samao Islands mapserver : http://map.meteorology.gov.ws/tiki/tiki-map.phtml [meteorology.gov.ws]
All those webserver relies on freely available webmapping technology.
Mapserver : http://mapserver.gis.umm.edu/ [umm.edu]
but others exist : Alov Map : http://alov.org/index.html [alov.org]
At last, other interesting food for your thoughts
"ReliefWeb Directory of Web Sites related to GIS and Mapping" http://www.reliefweb.int/w/contactDir.nsf/Related
and an article from in the field relief worker
"Humanitarian Mapping: Eyes for the Humanitarian Community" http://www.aidworkers.net/exchange/20030514.html [aidworkers.net]
{added}
Also look at the following NGO who may be working on the Pakistanees earthquake
http://www.mapaction.org/ [mapaction.org] UK based NGO mentioned by Mike McCall
http://www.giscorps.org/ [giscorps.org]
{end}
http://www.gueritte.net/ [gueritte.net]
Re: Disaster Relief after Pakistan's Earthquake
(Score:3, Informative)Its already underway
(Score:2, Interesting)