Eagle deployed in response to flood disaster

20 September 2010, 8:43am

September 16, 2010 - Geodan and ESRI Netherlands support Pakistan with Eagle.

Since last week, Eagle Crisis Management has delivered a contribution to the relief efforts in response to the flood disaster in Pakistan. Eagle is a location (geography) based Crisis
Management System that helps coordinating disaster response.

Contribution of Eagle

The system is used to create and store data fast and easily, in order to share the data with predefined user groups. Based on this information, relief efforts are coordinated and priorities are set to assign available resources. Eagle Crisis Management is also used to run analyses like the calculation of
numbers of affected people and damage control/reduction. Eagle BV has decided to donate all necessary Eagle software to the largest province of Pakistan, Punjab. Last week, the software has been implemented and the first training programs have been executed by Eagle locally in Lahore, capital of the Punjab province.

Experiences

“We met highly motivated people in Pakistan, they really wanted to start working with Eagle”, says Evert Meijer, director of Eagle who had the role of team leader due to his previous experience in Pakistan. “And also very capable: the chairman of the IT-board is an enthusiastic man who knows a lot about technology and who has a strong vision. He saw the urgency of using maps and sharing information right away.” Project manager Sander Vlotman adds: “But also the other staff members were able to realize things in no time and were working until late in the evening. Two participants to an Eagle training came in from the affected area and had to drive six hours to attend the training, driving back again after the training with their PC’s on which we had installed Eagle during the day. On
our last day, an Islamic feast day, several staff members came to our hotel to follow the last training sessions there.”

Fast action

Through the Microsoft network, Eagle came in touch with the disaster relief agency of the Punjab province in Pakistan. Shortly thereafter, four Eagle specialists took off. Two days after their arrival, most software components were installed (Microsoft SharePoint and Groove, ESRI ArcGIS Server and Desktop and the Eagle Crisis Management Suite), local geodata was loaded in Eagle and the training programs were ready to be rolled out. Now, already 20 local staff members have been trained.

From the Netherlands via the Internet

For the first time ever, Eagle Live has been placed in ‘the cloud’ (on the Internet). Eagle Live is a viewer that provides an easy-to-use situational overview through a web browser. To support the team in Pakistan, a support team in The Netherlands has simultaneously prepared an installation of Eagle Live. This made it possible to load situational information and to make this information publicly available from the moment the Eagle System was operational in Pakistan. This revolutionary way of working makes it possible to publicize information that is needed for relief efforts very fast after a disaster occurs.

Continuation

The massive size of the affected area (it has the same size as Italy) and the current state of affairs in data collection, are making it necessary to organize a follow up mission. After the Punjab authorities have executed a long list of actions following from our first visit, an Eagle team has got to travel to
Pakistan again to provide more assistance and expand the system. So it also will be able to coordinate the distribution of emergency supplies (where are they and where are they going?), and a link to an early warning system for future floodings. In The Netherlands, a lot of knowledge has been developed which Eagle wants to apply in Pakistan. Also, the support within governmental agencies will be
expanded by providing presentations to different ministries about the urgency of geo-information and netcentric operations. Eagle BV soon hopes to find funding for these activities. The relief and restoration efforts will still take years, but the foundation for a good supply of information has been
created.

Geo: International