ESRI and its international distributors are assisting government agencies and disaster relief organizations in responding to the recent devastating earthquake and following tsunamis in South Asia.(The imagery accompanying this article is provided courtesy of DigitalGlobe.The QuickBird imagery was collected December 28, and shows the damage at Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Click image for larger view.)
ESRI has offered its services to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Pacific Data Center, United States Pacific Command's Joint Task Force/Civil-Military Operations Center, Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DPM), GISTDA, Asia Pacific Natural Hazard Information Network, and numerous other organizations.ESRI is also coordinating with FEMA, NOAA, USGS, USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and other U.S.agencies.
ESRI is providing 24/7 support services including temporary key-codes, technical support, and more. Regardless of the GIS platform, ESRI is providing this assistance to any organization. Requests for assistance should be sent to earthquake_help@esri.com.
ESRI is also creating an Indian Ocean Disaster sub-channel on the Geospatial One-Stop portal to make a variety of resources available to anyone who needs them.These resources include many types of geographic data, map services, information about GIS projects in the region, lists of volunteers, and more.Visit www.geodata.gov to access this information. (For the specific URL for the Ocean Disaster at geodata.gov, click here.)
ESRI would like to thank HP, Trimble Navigation, DigitalGlobe, and Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) for their support for disaster relief efforts.HP is providing data hosting and processing equipment and capabilities.Trimble is providing GPS equipment. DigitalGlobe and EarthSat are providing data such as pre- and post-event satellite imagery.