GIS for Emergency Management

The scope and severity of disasters, and the causes behind them, have become increasingly complex. Hazardous materials, populations at risk, protection of critical infrastructure from natural disasters or terrorism, are just some of the issues that emergency managers must now routinely cope with. However, these tasks have become increasingly difficult as the amount of information to be discovered and understood has grown exponentially. GIS helps solve this problem because of its inherent ability to organize, analyze, and display this data in a visual interface that is faster and more natural to understand. GIS is a critical tool for your Emergency Management arsenal that addresses all four phases of disaster management: preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery.