1105 
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT - A GEOSPATIAL APPROACH 
V. Bhanumurthy1 *, G Srinivasa Rao, Harish C Kamatak, S. Mamatha, PS Roy, K Radhakrishnan 
National Remote Sensing Agency, Dept, of Space, Govt. India, Hyderabad-500 037 
Commission IV, WG IV/8 
KEY WORDS: Emergency, Database, Geospatial, Aerospace Data, Decision Support Systems, Networking 
ABSTRACT: 
Emergency can arise due to disaster caused by a technology or natural process. Emergency response needs rapid decisions in short 
time. In the circumstances of an emergency the normal channels of authority and communication cannot be relied upon to function 
routinely. The stress of the situation can lead to poor judgment resulting in severe losses. An emergency plan specifies procedures 
for handling sudden unexpected situations. The objective is to reduce the possible consequences of the emergency by (i) Preventing 
fatalities and injuries, (ii) Reducing damage to buildings, stock, and equipment and (iii) accelerating the resumption of normal 
operations. The geospatial data for emergency management has its significant importance. Data required for different kind of 
emergency range from spatial to attribute data. However, for technological disasters, required spatial information range from 
1:10,000 to 1:2000, depending upon the kind of disaster that occurs. The emergency database can be developed on the basis of an 
object-oriented database design approach that proceeds from data collection, processing, organization and sharing through 
centralized data repository i.e. data warehouse. Emergency management is a typically multi-disciplinary endeavour, requiring many 
types of data with spatial and temporal attributes that should be made available to key players in the right format for decision 
making. There is an enormous amount of geospatial data of all kinds and formats, but it is often hard to find the right data at the right 
moment by the people who need the information for rescue work and recovery operations. The inability to access information and 
the lack of standardization, coordination, and communication are all obstacles that need to be overcome. Considering the importance 
to address the emergency management, Department of Space envisaged a programme for development of geospatial database at 
various scales along with decision support tools with multi-institutional support. This database, which will leverage much on the 
aerospace data, will have core data, hazard-specific data, and dynamic data in spatial as well as non-spatial forms. The proposed 
geospatial database will deliver the necessary information in time to the key players by adopting the latest developments in computer 
science and networking technologies. The required system configuration and network design using state of art technology is 
envisaged keeping in view of the functional requirements. The architecture incorporates the necessary features like multi-core/ multi 
processor systems, high-end storage and network devices to ensure good system response even with the overhead of additional 
security levels. A prototype decision support system was developed for certain emergencies arise out of natural disasters such as 
floods. It consists of generic display & query module to facilitate display of spatial & non-spatial data, identification of attribute 
information, overlays, simple thematic queries etc. besides analysis module catering to the specific needs pertaining to emergency 
management such as impact assessment, relief organization etc. The paper describes the conceptual geospatial database design 
envisaged and the decision support tools developed for emergency management. Application of the tools to selected case studies is 
also discussed in the paper. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
1.1 Disaster scenario 
Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, drought, 
tornadoes, tropical cyclones, wildfire, tsunami, volcanic 
eruptions and landslides affects different parts of the world with 
varying intensities over space and time. As per the statistics of 
International Strategy on Disaster Reduction there was an 18 
percent rise in disasters during 2005 compared to 2004 
(www.unisdr.org). This increase is mainly due to the rising 
numbers of floods and droughts that affect large swathes of 
population. About 157 million people were affected by disasters 
in 2005 (www.unisdr.org) resulting in damages of about 159 
billion USD in the world. India ranks as the second country 
among disaster prone countries in terms of population affected. 
India experienced widespread floods, drought, landslides and 
earthquakes during recent years. Natural disasters are inevitable 
and it is almost impossible to fully recoup the damage caused 
by the disasters. But it is possible to minimize the potential risk 
by developing early disaster warning strategies, preparing and 
implementing developmental plans to provide resilience and to 
help in rehabilitation. Increased urbanisation in developing 
countries and invasion of coastal and river plain areas by 
agricultural, residential and industrial activities, etc., are some 
of the major factors that contribute to the increased 
vulnerability to natural hazards. 
Indian Territory is vulnerable to natural disasters due to its 
unique geo-climatic conditions and topography. Floods, 
droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, epidemics and landslides have 
been recurrent phenomena. About 60% of the landmass is prone 
to earthquakes of various intensities; over 40 million hectares is 
prone to floods; about 8% of the total area is prone to cyclones 
and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought. Each year 
disasters also account for extensive loss in terms of social and 
community assets. Apart from natural disasters, the 
technological/man-made disasters such as industrial, chemical, 
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