{"id":219652,"date":"2019-04-03T23:55:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T06:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=219652"},"modified":"2019-04-02T15:07:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T22:07:30","slug":"the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next","title":{"rendered":"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next"},"author":1432,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23442,237591,13602],"tags":[8022,151642,165752,284522,205752],"arcnews_issues":[327822],"class_list":["post-219652","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-solutions","category-disaster-response","category-natural-disasters","tag-disaster-preparedness","tag-earthquake","tag-hurricane","tag-oil-spill","tag-wildfires","arcnews_issues-spring-2019","arcnews_sections-news"],"acf":{"short_description":"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Esri founders Jack and Laura Dangermond started their company 50 years ago to help address some of the world\u2019s most difficult challenges: land-use issues, resource management concerns, population shifts, changes in the environment, and much more. Since its founding, Esri has always stood shoulder to shoulder with its users. That\u2019s no different when disaster strikes.\r\n\r\nThe Disaster Response Program (DRP) at Esri exists to help users respond to and enhance their GIS operations when hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, oil spills, and other crises overwhelm their organizations and demand escalated action. Assistance from the DRP comes in many forms and can involve getting users access to ArcGIS software and available data, assisting with workflows, and providing technical support.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of our contributions back to the community,\u201d said Ryan Lanclos, Esri\u2019s director of public safety industry solutions and lead for the DRP. \u201cOur core team is here to help our users when they need it most, but we also want them to know how to better prepare.\u201d\r\n

A Deep History of Disaster Response<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe first activation of the then-unofficial DRP was 25 years ago, when authorities dealing with the aftermath of the 6.7-magnitude Northridge Earthquake reached out to Esri for help. The destruction throughout Southern California was extensive: buildings cracked and crumpled, freeway overpasses collapsed, and at least 57 people died while an estimated 9,000 suffered injuries."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":219682,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cAfter the earthquake, we had strong users reaching out to us for assistance,\u201d said Lanclos. \u201cWe saw that we not only needed to get them help, but we also needed to understand what the impact was. Taking our expertise from the GIS and public safety worlds, we helped them do damage assessments and augmented their capabilities when they were in a really tough spot.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnother big activation for the DRP was in New York City after September 11, 2001. When the twin towers located at 1 and 2 World Trade Center collapsed, the city\u2019s state-of-the-art emergency operations center (EOC), located at 7 World Trade Center, was damaged beyond repair. Within a few days, the city relocated the EOC to Pier 92, a large shipping terminal on the Hudson River, and Esri was there to help.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey printed over 20,000 maps in the weeks following the terrorist attacks,\u201d said Lanclos. \u201cWe were honored to be in the thick of it<\/a>, helping the City of New York, and the nation as a whole, respond to and recover from that incident.\u201d\r\n\r\nFor Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the DRP provided direct aid to several agencies. It helped put together a regional database, assisted with search-and-rescue operations, supported damage assessments, and did map production.\r\n\r\nWhen the BP oil spill<\/a> happened in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Esri provided the GIS capabilities to get multiple organizations with wide-ranging needs to collaborate and gain a common situational awareness.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat was where we really saw how we could support not only traditional public safety agencies but also other types of organizations and needs all over the world,\u201d said Lanclos.\r\n\r\nIt was then that the DRP really began to formalize. Internally, Esri established how the DRP could best respond to and prepare for emergencies, as well as how to have users activate the program when they needed it.\r\n\r\n\u201cJust like cities and counties activate their operations centers at different levels based on what they anticipate their needs to be, we do the same thing,\u201d Lanclos explained. \u201cWe monitor hurricane forecasts, snow forecasts, flood forecasts, and more. We proactively reach out to users to make sure they\u2019re ready, and we have a team on standby to field requests.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWe are on call 24\/7\/365 to monitor, review, and process requests to support emergencies or events anywhere in the world,\u201d said Brenda Martinez, the disaster response and public safety marketing specialist at Esri. \u201cAfter we receive a request, it is reviewed to determine the specific need and then sent to the appropriate Esri staff members or departments for processing.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":219692,"text":"If organizations use [the emergency management operations solution] as a road map for getting started with preparedness efforts, they can be ready for the next incident. They should do this today, even without the DRP.","author_name":"Ryan Lanclos","author_profession_organization":"Director of public safety industry solutions and lead for the DRP, Esri"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The DRP has responded to countless hurricanes and wildfires, helped map disease outbreaks all over the world, and even provided assistance when multiple agencies from different countries needed to rapidly share geospatial data after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17<\/a> was downed in Ukraine in 2014.\r\n\r\nTwo years ago, the DRP experienced its busiest year on record with three major hurricanes\u2014Harvey, Irma, and Maria\u2014striking the Caribbean and the southern United States within about a month of one another, plus multiple devastating fires and severe flooding elsewhere.\r\n

Reacting to Emergencies and Preparing for the Next One<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nUnsurprisingly, the work never stops. When Hurricane Michael struck the Florida panhandle in October 2018 as a category 4 storm, Bay County sustained extensive damage. The 10-foot storm surge cut the barrier island of Cape San Blas in two and devastated the small town of Mexico Beach.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe reached out to Bay County before the hurricane, but we didn\u2019t hear anything until about 24 to 48 hours after landfall,\u201d said Keith Cooke, an account executive for local government at Esri.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey contacted us by satellite phone after the storm,\u201d added Will Meyers, an Esri solution engineer. \u201cThey had very little communication.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis was a rare occasion when Esri opted to deploy people on-site, so with support from the DRP, both Cooke and Meyers went straight to Bay County to help out. They assisted with general mapping, established a Web GIS presence within the EOC, and helped develop a damage assessment workflow. The two also built dashboards that officials used in their morning and evening EOC briefings, including one that showed how badly the storm had affected local businesses.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe did some really cool stuff,\u201d said Cooke. \u201cBut if it hadn\u2019t been for the DRP team\u2014with whom we had twice-daily calls\u2014we would have been bogged down in phone calls, emails, and other minutiae in a place that didn\u2019t have great connectivity.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":219702,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cThere were so many people working on this behind the scenes, whether it was processing drone imagery, or working out logistics to get us what we needed, or just helping to connect the dots,\u201d added Meyers. \u201cIt felt like we were sort of the middle man between a great resource team\u2014the DRP\u2014and the people on the ground.\u201d\r\n\r\nEsri\u2019s DRP jumped into action for the November 2018 Camp Fire, too, which burned more than 150,000 acres, destroyed almost 19,000 structures, caused 86 fatalities, and devastated the town of Paradise in Butte County, California.\r\n\r\n\u201cI knew about [the DRP], but in the heat of the moment, everything is going crazy, and people are just pulling you in a thousand different directions,\u201d recalled Jim Aranguren, Butte County\u2019s GIS manager. \u201cI think Esri reached out, or maybe I said, \u2018Yeah, I need to contact them.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\nEsri DRP member Chris \u201cFern\u201d Ferner jumped in to help Aranguren and Butte County manage their emergency needs.\r\n\r\n\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what to ask for,\u201d Aranguren said. \u201cEsri was saying, \u2018Do you need help with this map?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u201cyes, yes, yes, and yes. What can you do for me?\u2019 Esri immediately came in, contacted me, assessed what I needed, and brought in Fern to help out.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith Ferner engaged, the DRP opened up Butte County\u2019s ArcGIS Online organizational account, assisted with the surge of staff by giving it additional named users, and helped fix an app it was having trouble with. Interestingly, Butte County was actually prepared for a big wildfire, as well as flooding, given where it\u2019s located\u2014in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, amid a lot of woodland. It just didn\u2019t have enough resources to support the scale of this incident, which quickly turned from a wildland fire into an urban fire when it tore into the ridge town of Paradise.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m trying to think now of preparing for another scenario like we experienced. What do we do?\u201d asked Aranguren. \u201cOur ArcGIS Online experience and presence on the web wasn\u2019t that big. We thought about maybe migrating our services to the cloud, so that could be something we think about doing down the road. Also, what [mobile] applications do we need to have waiting in the wings? What would the schema look like? Do we have all the pieces in place for the people going out in the field to get the information they need? Let\u2019s build those, get them set up, and have them ready to go so we will be ready if this happens again tomorrow.\u201d\r\n

Esri\u2019s Emergency Management Operations Solution<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe DRP\u2019s long history has led to a better understanding of how organizations can prepare for the next event.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have learned a lot over the past 25 years,\u201d said Lanclos. \u201cWe want to share this with others in hopes that they can start preparing now.\u201d\r\n\r\nA new solution for emergency management operations<\/a> provides an integrated set of tools that address common workflows related to disasters. It was developed based on the DRP\u2019s real-world experiences.\r\n\r\n\u201cPeople typically need to think about three main areas,\u201d explained Lanclos.\r\n\r\nFirst, assess how to maintain situational awareness and how to use GIS to do it. Second, figure out how to get teams out in the field to collect data and then get it back to the EOC. Third, determine how to manage public information so citizens know which actions to take and when.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe solution we\u2019ve created addresses all this and is based on requirements and feedback from users,\u201d said Lanclos. \u201cIf organizations use it as a road map for getting started with preparedness efforts, they can be ready for the next incident. They should do this today, even without the DRP.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"Learn more about the DRP<\/a> and get started with the emergency management operations solution<\/a>.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nThe Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2019\/03\/arcnews-banner-disasterresponseprog-card.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Esri\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next\",\n\t \"name\": \"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2019-04-04T06:55:25+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"ArcNews Articles\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 3,\n\t \"name\": \"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Esri\",\n\t \"description\": \"Esri Newsroom\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7332d419608ac1a0291ec30de119efb\",\n\t \"name\": \"April Mann\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28d21cf04453f95cd2d8a0f053e5cd18ccf684320f6a4974f358b8109264e80b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28d21cf04453f95cd2d8a0f053e5cd18ccf684320f6a4974f358b8109264e80b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\n\t \"caption\": \"April Mann\"\n\t },\n\t \"url\": \"\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next","description":"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next","og_description":"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next","og_site_name":"Esri","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2019\/03\/arcnews-banner-disasterresponseprog-card.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Esri","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next","name":"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-04-04T06:55:25+00:00","description":"Esri\u2019s DRP has helped users respond to disasters for 25 years. Its new solution gets users to start preparing for the next incident today.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/the-disaster-response-program-ready-to-help-and-prepare-you-for-whats-next#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ArcNews Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Disaster Response Program: Ready to Help and Prepare You for What\u2019s Next"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/","name":"Esri","description":"Esri Newsroom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7332d419608ac1a0291ec30de119efb","name":"April Mann","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28d21cf04453f95cd2d8a0f053e5cd18ccf684320f6a4974f358b8109264e80b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28d21cf04453f95cd2d8a0f053e5cd18ccf684320f6a4974f358b8109264e80b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"April Mann"},"url":""}]}},"sort_order":"5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/arcnews\/219652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/arcnews"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/arcnews"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/arcnews\/219652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219652"},{"taxonomy":"arcnews_issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/arcnews_issues?post=219652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}