Working together to create a safer world
In a world where disasters are an undeniable reality, organizations like Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) act as a shield. Supported by Kontur and managed by the University of Hawaii, PDC is an applied research corporation that collaborates with governments and NGOs across the globe. Their mission is a powerful one – to transform the world into a safer, more disaster-resilient place.
At the center of their work is DisasterAWARE, an application used by governmental organizations and nongovernmental humanitarian organizations worldwide for emergency and disaster management planning, coordination, and response to large disasters. The platform is also used by the U.S. Department of Defense as the only approved unclassified source of global disaster information for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief decision-making.
Harnessing FME for enhanced disaster monitoring
PDC is using FME to aggregate data so they can vigilantly monitor threats such as earthquakes, cyclones, and wildfires. They seamlessly aggregate hazard data feeds and integrate them into a PostGIS database. The data undergoes a transformation into an accessible map service, ready to be fed into the DisasterAWARE application.
PDC uses FME to compartmentalize data and can make changes to code for one disaster type without making unintentional changes elsewhere. This precision ensures that the critical information they provide is always reliable. Anyone new to DisasterAWARE can more quickly get up to speed with FME, and the barrier to entry is greatly reduced compared to their previous application.
PDC’s crucial role during the Maui wildfire crisis
Recently, PDC aided the Maui wildfire disaster response and recovery efforts, helping to save lives and direct relief by processing and sharing data updates and developing new analytics derived from ground-verified information. All new informational maps and data facilitated multi-agency coordination during the whole-of-government response as well as daily situational awareness through the DisasterAWARE platform. FME was a crucial piece of PDC’s wildfire disaster response process and helped in the quick aggregation and processing of fire response data. FME was used to help automate the integration of new response data into DisasterAWARE as well as the generation of maps for the response effort.
