Jeremy
The recent earthquake in Haiti not only acts as reminder of the vulnerability of communities to disasters caused by natural (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, etc.) or man-made (nuclear power plant accidents, toxic material releases, etc.) events but it also reminds us that some disasters are so catastrophic that the demand for emergency response exceeds the local jurisdiction’s supply of emergency response equipment and personnel.
So, what are emergency managers to do when they are overwhelmed by a catastrophic disaster within their jurisdiction? An obvious option is to ask for assistance from surrounding jurisdictions by requesting emergency resources (e.g. search and rescue teams, ambulances, EMTs, etc.). However, in order for these requests to be processed quickly and efficiently, emergency managers within each jurisdiction need to be:
(1) using a common language when discussing the availability of emergency resources and
(2) leveraging resource management systems that can “talk” to other jurisdictions’ resource management systems (i.e. are interoperable).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) acknowledges this and developed the NIMS 120, which is a list of authoritative definitions for 120 emergency resources that are likely to be shared by jurisdictions during a disaster. However, there are state-specific emergency resources that jurisdictions share during a disaster that are not explicitly defined by FEMA. This gap in common definitions has the potential to disrupt or delay the interstate sharing of resources not listed in the NIMS 120.
Through the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP), Towson University’s Center for GIS (CGIS) is working with the University of Maryland’s Center for Health and Homeland Security (CHHS) to fill this gap for the six jurisdictions (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) making up the national capital region. CGIS is developing survey instruments that:
(1) will identify the non-NIMS 120 emergency resources that each jurisdiction has available for emergency response and
(2) assess the existing resource management systems of each jurisdiction.
CGIS will compile the survey results and provide CHHS a list of options and recommendations for definitions for the non-NIMS 120 emergency resources identified by the surveyed jurisdictions. CGIS will also provide CHHS options and recommendations for enhancing / improving the interoperability of resource management systems across the region.
