Global Disaster Information Network in the Works to Help Remote Crisis-Stricken Areas Around the World; Preliminary Findings to Be Presented at World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Kobe, Japan, January 18-22, 2005
In the aftermath of the tsunamis that devastated Asia in late December 2004, observers pointed out that lack of official, credible information gave victims and governments in the area little prior warning of the impending disaster. Although still in the developmental stages, a partnership of the Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN) and the Organsation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is creating an information system that may significantly reduce the impact of future natural and manmade disasters. Native American Pueblo and Navajo Nations in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado are providing pilot sites for the GDIN system.
(PRWEB) January 5, 2005 -- In the aftermath of the tsunamis that devastated
Asia in late December 2004, observers pointed out that lack of official,
credible information gave victims and governments in the area little prior
warning of the impending disaster. Although still in the developmental stages, a
partnership of the Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN) and the
Organsation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is creating an
information system that may significantly reduce the impact of future natural
and manmade disasters. Native American Pueblo and Navajo Nations in Arizona, New
Mexico, Utah and Colorado are providing pilot sites for the GDIN
system.
GDIN is a public-private partnership created by the US Department
of State but now an international NGO involving technology industry and
government experts and international civil servants from over a dozen countries
and the United Nations. Once successfully completed, this Native American pilot
project will be the model for replicating the network on an international level.
Recommendations on design features come from federal agencies such as DOD,
Interior, Agriculture and FEMA, as well as the United Nations, OECD, Natural
Resources, Canada (NRCan) and private sector experts in the United States,
Australia and elsewhere.
Begun in 1998, GDIN grew out of the realization
that domestic and international communities needed to take better advantage of
information to provide improved warning of potential crises, and reduce the risk
and speed of response to disasters once they happen – especially in remote areas
where communication infrastructure is poor.
“During a disaster,
regardless of type of location, timely and accurate information is essential in
order to limit damage or loss of life, and speed recovery," said Larry Roeder,
Policy Advisor on Disaster Management for the Bureau of International
Organizations at the State Department and Executive Director of GDIN. “Sharing
information during a disaster is complicated by lack of sufficient
communications infrastructure and the need for multi-national cooperation. GDIN
is an attempt to create an interconnected network which will use national,
international, government or private resources in real time, cost
effectively.”
Navajo and Pueblo Nations in three states were selected as
pilot sites on advice from the Departments of Interior, Homeland Security and
Agriculture. The locations were chosen because of geography and susceptibility
to disasters similar to Southern Africa and other informationally-challenged
areas of the world; and because of a real need to protect and preserve important
tribal sites. Additionally, there has historically been limited real-time
communication between these native peoples in the field of disaster preparedness
information and little existing infrastructure to support such sharing – much
like in the under-developed world or developed areas in the immediate aftermath
of a disaster.
Sharing of disaster information among these people would
create a model for the international community. The concept would be for the
Native American network to be linked with other similar networks throughout the
world, though local native peoples would control their own information for both
security and culturally sensitive reasons. Local nodes are managed at the local
level in order to maintain control of culturally sensitive information, as well
as data that might have security implications.
The network as a whole is
managed by GDIN as a global system that will facilitate moving critical data in
the right format to nodes in need, as well as foster sharing of best practices
that can be used as part of a general repository of accumulated knowledge to
prevent or mitigate disasters.
“First and foremost it would be a
communications vehicle,” adds GDIN’s Roeder. “It would open lines of
communication among nations and groups of people that have little contact in the
field, and allow them to help each other seamlessly. One could imagine
indigenous people in New Mexico assisting similar groups in Alaska or Peru or
Canada, and vice versa. This would make the network on the one hand a tool for
tribal governments to directly service the needs of their own people, while on
the other it would give them a means to augment traditional tools from local,
state and federal governments. The system will strengthen these indigenous
people as partners with governments, rather than creating
competitors.
Technology industry experts and researchers from GDIN and
OECD are currently working with Navajo and Pueblo representatives to develop a
risk-assessment tool and a larger GDIN partnership will then use data from the
tool and other sources to determine the information system and staffing
requirements for a tribal intranet. That research will be completed and
presented (without sensitive tribal data) to GDIN in the first quarter of 2005.
The research also will be discussed at the World Conference on Disaster
Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe, Japan January 18-22, 2005. Working jointly, GDIN and
the Native American nations will seek funding from Congress and other sources to
create and test the network.
“The Native American network, and those
which will follow, are not intended to replace any existing systems in the
United States or internationally,” said David Baxa, President and CEO of VISTA
Technology Services, Inc., an data infrastructure expert participating in GDIN.
“We’re talking about a number of independent, interconnected networks that could
provide street maps of urban areas hit by an earthquake or satellite images of
active volcano lava flows in a remote locale. In addition, though the project
benefits from advice from OECD, the United Nations and experts from Canada and
other nations, information is controlled at the local level.”
About VISTA
Technology Services, Inc.
VISTA Technology Services, Inc. (VISTA) is known
for managing change from the ground up. A leader in facilities infrastructure
analysis, IT and management consulting, VISTA’s expertise supports Defense
Transformation and civilian agency efficiency requirements. To meet changing
governmental organizational structures and responsibilities, VISTA has developed
a proven methodology for facilities infrastructure analysis, including
productized IT-based services for data collection, certification, and analysis,
budgeting, management and archiving. VISTA is a wholly veteran-owned company and
combines a thorough practical knowledge of government processes and procedures
with superior technological expertise. For more information, contact VISTA at
703-561-4100, or visit www.vistatsi.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb193695.htm