GIS technology has become the one unifying component that every community can use to plan for, respond to, and recover from, major disasters—whether these are natural events such as hurricanes, or the man-made destruction of terrorist attack. By giving responders and disaster managers a way to analyze each stage of a disaster visually and to synthesize complex information sets, GIS permits swifter decision-making and better communication. Confronting Catastrophe: A GIS Handbook is a hands-on guide for both emergency-operations and GIS managers, as well as for government decision-makers, on ways to best implement GIS into disaster management.

The book takes readers through the five stages of that management—Identification and Planning, Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery—and shows how GIS processes can be incorporated into each. Using real-world examples from agencies across the country, the book offers practical insights on using GIS technology to bring efficiency and speed to life-saving work.

About the author:

R. W. Greene, was a staff writer and editor at ESRI Press. He is a graduate of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Reporting at The Ohio State University, and author of GIS in Public Policy, and Confronting Catastrophe: A GIS Handbook.