Emergency planning and visualization: The case of Miami-Dade County's Emergency Operations Center

Abstract

Relief efforts for previous disasters such as the 9/11 attacks in New York, hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the earthquake in Haiti, illustrate the need for emergency management agencies to have a comprehensive emergency management plan in place. Miami-Dade County's (MDC) Emergency Operating Center (EOC) is one of the leading centers in hurricane emergency management in the U.S., which makes them the ideal starting point for understanding how technology helps them to address the challenges that are unique to them. The goal of this paper is to share with emergency response teams across the globe the tools that the EOC uses to excel in preparedness for disasters. We focus on the way decision-making factors are incorporated into their technology as well as demonstrate how they use Geographical Information System (GIS) driven applications to maximize the effectiveness of their decision makers and response teams. © 2013 WIT Press.