How to manage Emergency Situaitons with the GIS SIIE
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Iturriaga, C.
1INSTITUTO GEOGRAFICO MILITAR DE CHILE Email: rrii@igm.cl
Abstract
HOW TO MANAGE EMERGENCY SITUATIONS WITH THE GIS SIIE No place in the world has been safe from natural disasters, as these have caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people and have left millions without shelter. These include, in recent years, the earthquake and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the hurricanes and cyclones in the United States, the Caribbean and the Pacific, the earthquakes that devastated Haiti and the central- southern regions of Chile, the tsunami with waves more than 40 meters high that smashed into the coasts of Japan after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake – the biggest for 140 years in that area – and now, once again in our country, the eruption occurring at the Caulle Ridge, in the Tenth Region of Chile, causing its ejected ashes to drift around the world. Disasters are defined as those situations or processes that can occur as a result of a natural or anthropic event and, where communities are in a vulnerable conditions, that exceed their capacity to respond to such an event and so cause intense alterations to the normal working of that community. This means that there is loss in human life, destruction of assets and damage to the environment. A disaster takes place when the conditions of hazard become real, as a result of a set of risks, vulnerability conditions and inadequate capacity to reduce the negative consequences and potential for hazard. In practical terms, the hazard is defined as the degree of hazard multiplied by the vulnerability (HxV). “Hazard”, refers to the probability that a given natural event of a certain size, intensity, duration and probability of occurrence, with negative consequences, will happen. “Vulnerability”, refers to the conditions determined by physical, social, economic or environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of various threats. It is precisely the increase in vulnerability which has led to an increase in the loss of human lives, that is, natural disasters. This ranges from the use of the territory to the structure of buildings, depending very much upon the response of the population to the problem and the exposure of the land that they inhabit. Exposure means the territorial environment that is susceptible to suffering damage as a result of the occurrence of a catastrophic natural event or the presence of a dangerous activity. It is the probability that each site has for being affected by the consequences of events (natural or technological) which, due to their characteristics, may be considered potential sources of risk for the environment or the population. INTEGRATED EMERGENCY INFORMATION SYSTEM (SIIE) The Integrated Emergency Information System (SIIE) enables the viewing, analysis and identification of zones at risk, and provides back-up to planning for logistics support, for fast response to disasters and/ or emergencies. The SIIE is a web map service accessible via internet from any part of the world, based on Flex Viewer and ArcGIS technology. The SIIE presents the world as a flat image with UTM projection, geographic coordinates and uses the SIRGAS (WGS 84) system for the geo-referencing of its data. The SIIE has a direct connection to services with physical relief, road transport, aeronautical, and urban features mapped, and a satellite image service. The SIIE integrates the cartographic base of the Military Geographic Institute with map services at global level, with territorial information from Chilean services and on- line services. It has graphic tools for working and planning, in addition to applications that enable the simulation of natural hazards and the viewing of their respective zones of vulnerability.
Keywords
natural disasters; planning &; response