Planning: Disaster management programs begin with
locating and identifying potential emergency problems. Using
a GIS, officials can pinpoint hazards and begin to evaluate the
consequences of potential emergencies or disasters. When
hazards (earthquake faults, fire hazard areas, flood zones,
shoreline exposure, etc.) are viewed with other map data
(streets, pipelines, buildings, residential areas, power lines,
storage facilities, etc.), disaster management officials can
begin to formulate mitigation, preparedness, response, and
possible recovery needs. Lives, property, and environmental
values at high risk from potential emergency or disaster
become apparent. Public safety personnel can focus on where
mitigation efforts will be necessary, where preparedness
efforts must be focused, where response efforts must be
strengthened, and the type of recovery efforts that may be
necessary. Before an effective disaster management program
can be implemented, thorough analysis and planning must be
done. GIS facilitates this process by allowing planners to view
the appropriate combinations of spatial data through
computer-generated maps.