Role of Geospatial Technology

In Disaster Management

SUPERVISED BY : SUBMITTED BY:

MR. Dharmendra Kumar NAME – Jatin Bhadana

Geospatial Technology CLASS – IX A

Acknowledgment
 I would like to express my special thanks of
gratitude to my geospatial teacher, who gave me
the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project
on the topic ‘Role of Geospatial Technology
In Disaster Management’

Secondly, I would like to thank my parents and

friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this
project within the limited time frame.

Index :-
1) Introduction
2) Geospatial technology
3) Types of technologies used in geospatial
technology
4) Disasters
5) Techniques
6) Disaster management
7) Observation
8) Conclusion

Introduction :-
As potential emergency situations are identified,
mitigation needs can be determined and prioritized, In
the case of an earthquake, what developments are
within the primary impact zone of earthquake faults?
Based on the expected magnitude of an earthquake,
soils, and other geologic data, what damage may occur.
Using Geospatial Information, officials can pinpoint
hazards and begin to evaluate the risk and consequences
of potential emergencies or disasters.
Values at risk can be displayed quickly and efficiently
through a GIS. Utilizing existing databases linked to
geographic features in GIS makes this possible.

Geospatial Technology :-
Geospatial technologies include global navigation
satellite systems (GNSS) such as the global
positioning system (GPS), geographic information
systems (GIS), and remote sensing (RS).
Geospatial technologies can provide accurate,
current location based data for use in disaster
management. Indeed, the use of geospatial
technologies in disaster management is a natural
fit because location is a key element of disaster
management. Almost everything in a disaster,
including the event, resources, risks, hazards, and
people, is referenced by location. However, based
on my personal observations, interactions, and
discussions with disaster management practitioners
in the province of Manitoba, Canada, the use of
geospatial technology in disaster management, at
least at the local level, is not common.
Types of technologies used in Geospatial
Technology :-
1) Remote Sensing (RS)
2) Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
3) Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

Remote Sensing (RS) – Remote sensing is the

term used to describe the act of gathering data
from a distance. This distance can be small or
large. Remote sensing uses electronic sensors
without direct contact; some means of transferring
information through space must be utilized.
Remote sensing uses satellites to acquire
information about earth’s surface. Satellite
provides a means for looking at a very large area
of the world in a very short time. As remote
sensing gives the picture of a very large area in a
short time, it helps to plan and manage the natural
resources.
Geographic Information System (GIS) – GIS is
a computer system capturing, storing , checking,
integrating, manipulating, analysing positions on
the earth’s surface. GIS allows us to view,
understand, questions, interpret, and visualize data
in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns
and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports,
and charts. GIS stores information about the real
world as a collection of thematic layers that can be
used together.

Global Positioning System (GPS) – The Global

Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S. space – based
radio navigation system that provides reliable
positioning, navigation and timing services to
civilian users on a continuous worldwide basis.
Disasters :-

Natural disasters are dangerous events caused by

natural processes on earth. An example of a
natural disaster is a flood, earthquake,
hurricane/cyclone, volcanic eruption, tsunami, and
other geological processes. Man-made or
anthropogenic disasters are caused by human
activities. Anthropogenic disasters adversely affect
humans, other organisms, and finally the
ecosystems. Examples of man-made disasters
include all types of pollution, nuclear disasters,
chemical disasters, terrorism attacks, and other
accidental disasters.
Techniques :-

Remote sensing data is recorded in a wide

spectrum of optical, radar, thermal, and lidar
forms. All these contribute differently to mapping
and assessing any damage. For instance, thermal
data helps gauge any damage relating to heat
signatures such as explosions or gas leaks, etc.
Radar and lidar data can be effectively used to
handle events such as earthquakes and landslides.
Optical data is used to map surface damage such
as destroyed buildings etc, digital elevation models
and other indices are used to assess floods.
Temporal change detection is one of the most used
techniques to determine the severity of the
damage. Pre and Post images of the disaster/event
are compared to assess the change in terms of
damage.
Flood Hazard mapping using Remote
sensing and GIS :-

Remote sensing and GIS help in flood hazard or

risk mapping for land use planning in flood-prone
areas. Flood hazard depends on various factors
such as Surface slope, amount of rain, drainage
density, soil type, and texture, etc. There are series
of steps to generate a Flood hazard map. Calculate
elevation accuracy using control points, calculate
surface slope and drainage density using drainage
network information, extract the main channel
from the draining network. After all the
calculations, a model can be prepared using GIS
modelling tools and hydrological parameters can
be calculated using any hydrological modelling
software. The last step is to generate a Flood
hazard map by integrating all the calculated
parameters using any multi-criteria analysis tool
provided by GIS software.
Forest fire risk zone analysis and
mapping using Remote Sensing :-

Forest fire is caused by either natural phenomenon

such as high atmospheric temperature, lightning,
etc., or by human activities. Forest fire risk zone
analysis and mapping are necessary to prevent the
spread of fire by detecting the areas where fire can
start and easily spread. Remote sensing provides
various techniques to find fire risk zone areas such
as Vegetation indices. Biomass from plants and
trees can be decreased due to fire and this reduced
amount depends upon the harshness of fire.
Vegetation indices of two satellite images (pre-
and post-fire images) can be calculated to compare
and analyse the change before and after the fire.
The correlation between detected forest fire risk
and actual forest fire risk zone can be calculated.
Forest fire risk zone map can be generated using
any Remote sensing software.
Earthquake :-

It is one of the oldest enemies of humankind and

now it is possible to map and analyse earthquakes
in a detailed manner. GIS supports national,
regional, and local emergency organizations in
planning and managing preparatory programs. The
GIS-based Urban Information Systems is used to
analyse demographic data and infrastructure
locations.

Remote sensing and GIS Technology provides the

exact position of the spatial data of historical sites.
The vision of remote sensing and GIS technology
is to visualize the critical vulnerabilities &
damages and reduce the impact of the disaster. The
GIS Technology results could be responded to
quickly during the disaster.

Experience has shown that earthquake deaths can

increase due to secondary disasters such as
tsunamis and fires. Buffer analysis serves as a
good remedy to reduce vulnerabilities to predict
the damage that could be caused by a tsunami.
The GIS-based Network analysis tool is used to
identify the location and routes that provide the
fastest response to emergency needs like a
hospital, fire station, and so on.

The real-time location tracking platform or

web/mobile GIS-based applications are enabled to
interact with the maps which contain the details of
the earthquake location & its intensity, health
facility, nearby base camp information, and
Damage assessment. The GIS-based application
also acts as a collective platform for data gathering
around the incident of infrastructure damage or
fire and information dissemination to relief teams
involved in providing aid to those affected by the
disasters.
Cyclone :-
It is the most destructive force of nature, causing
widespread loss. Remote Sensing technology is
used to monitor & collect acute information for the
entire earth globe concerning the topography
and meteorological/climate data. The Temporal
data of the same place has become strong and
dominant in determining as well as forecasting the
natural calamities for the environment &
ecosystem protection and development.

Similarly, Remote Sensing & GIS technology

acting a major role in other disasters like Drought,
Heat waves & Cold waves, Climate Change, and
Global Warming & its Effects.

The pollution disasters like air pollution, water

pollution, and soil pollution are consequences of
climate and Global warming effects. These types
of disasters are based on the meteorological
conditions of the locations/place.

GIS technology has been vital for emergency

preparedness through planning & execution and
has saved many lives in previously occurred
cyclones. It has improved certain extended limits
like environmental understanding, strategic
decision making, monitoring of climate change
impact, and ascertaining future risks. It is
mathematics functional algorithms to analyze the
geo-spatial data and display the output in a visual
format.

The data is visualized and patterns & their

relationships can be identified. Government
agencies, as well as NGOs that support disaster
management, can benefit from this technology
because they know which regions are most
affected.

Landslides and Avalanches :-

The historic data can be accessed by GIS
technology and it will give more awareness to
society when the government sectors/rescue teams
display the vulnerability maps and announce the
Risk time by the climates.
GIS also integrates qualitative and quantitative
data through spatial relationships. The other
excellent features such as Query builder, Overlay
Analysis, Raster & Vector analysis, and the user
interfaces permit to performance of the query-
based analysis in multiple thematic layers.

The spatial analysis such as developing different

theme maps like Elevation, Slope, Aspect, and Hill
shade using terrain analyst which is very useful in
landslide & Avalanches disaster prediction.

Landslide /Avalanche hazard mapping is a typical

problem that requires a large database. Subsequent
analysis of GIS results allows the users to better
understand and visualize problems and results.
Biological Disasters :-
COVID-19 is a good example to understand the
importance of information through maps. In the
healthcare domain, the GIS technology is
supported against the global pandemic disease
COVID-19. The battle through Mapping of
available data like existing COVID Positive cases,
quarantine centers, hospital infrastructure
capacities, and identifying hotspots using IGIS
Based COVID-19 Response & Monitoring
Solution. The GIS Real-Time spatial mapping and
analysis skills will also act the main role in the
efficient distribution of vaccinations.

Accidental Disasters :-
Accidental disasters is occurred due to the
following reasons: Process and safety systems
failures, Human/Technical/Management errors, the
Induced effect of natural calamities, Hazardous
waste processing/ disposal, and Terrorist attacks/
unrest leading to sabotage.
The accidental disaster hotspot identification of the
location is used by GIS, GPS, and
Telecommunication Technology. The high user
interface of mobile-based applications has
integrated the technology to provide effective and
economical safety to society.

Disaster Management :-
Disaster management is having two parts which
are :

1) Pre – disaster events

2) Post – disaster events

Pre – disaster stage:

 Mitigation and Preparation process activities need
to be planned to reduce the impact of the disaster.

Phase 1 – Mitigation: Minimize the effects of the

Disasters before their occurrence.

The Central /State Government or local rescue

teams take action to save people’s lives, and
properties, to reduce the consequence of disasters
with help of Geo-Information data. The objective
of the Mitigation process is preserved in an
optimum way using GIS Technology by adoption
and enforcement of land use & zoning practices,
implementing and enforcing building codes,
Raising of homes in flood-prone areas, and
Awareness Program. The Government sector
tremendously works in disaster mitigation plans
with help of GIS-based forecasted disaster maps
efficiently. Making short & long-term continuous
preparation of mitigation plans to minimize the
impact of the disaster will need to identify the
critical areas by its interactive visualization in a
geospatial optimized mode.
Phase 2 – Preparedness: Involves the
development of an emergency operations plan.

Central/provincial or local rescue teams are ready

to prepare an emergency operation plan with a
disaster response checklist for communities and
data share across both government and non-
governmental agencies. The development of the
geospatial database for infrastructure, and the
asset locations, such as generators, construction
machinery, medical resources, and shelters.

Post – disaster stage:

Response and recovery measures are being taken
to return to normal life.

Phase 3 – Response: Emergency helps the people

In the event of a disaster, people need emergency

assistance after the disaster, geospatial data can be
used to determine the answers to user questions
regarding emergencies like health centre
operations, temporary potential shelter locations,
and so on. The central / state government or relief
team address/respond to all those in need of help
during the time of the fight against a disaster with
of help of GIS Technology.

Phase 4 – Recovery: Back to Normal Life after the

occurrence of the Disaster Event

The organization/Government provides support to

the affected people during the disaster to bring
them into their day-to-day routine life using
support in an economic, social, and environmental
way. GIS provides short-term goals such as
environmental monitoring of affected sites,
tracking of rehabilitation processes, and
economical support for rapid recovery processes.
The establishment of Long term vision has to
make better recovery & rebuild work and
mitigation plans along with GIS technology.
 Observation :-
Through this we have observed the importance of
geospatial technology and data in disaster
management.

Conclusion :-
 GIS technology helps identify disasters before
they occur, using forecasts or risk zone maps.
Remote sensing and GIS technology for Disaster
Management create an emergency database for
people in need of all assistance in the event of a
disaster.
The emergency database contains information
about nearby hospitals, emergency shelters, and
more. Disaster risk or impact maps focus on
taking corrective action against disasters.
The GIS Technology is combined with Global
Positioning System (GPS), which will help to
receive/update the help from disaster rescue
teams.
The GIS Maps will give also historical/past
disaster events details, from this disaster
management action will be taken more strongly.
Remote Sensing and GIS technology have strong
essence to provide the solution to all types of
disasters but only the methods, and consideration
of the factors are different.

Bibliography :-
1) https://www.satpalda.com/blogs/disaster-
management-using-geospatial-technology
2) https://www.sgligis.com/gis-in-disaster-
management/

3) https://www.igi-global.com/article/use-
geospatial-technology-disaster-management/
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