Collaborating for Risk Reduction: Building GIS Partnerships for Universities and State and Local Emergency Management

摘要

Geographic information systems (GIS) have become indispensable tools for natural hazards planning and mitigation. No other technology can match GIS for visualizing vulnerabilities, opportunities, mitigation, and disaster response strategies, yet many state and local emergency management agencies lack GIS expertise or access. Furthermore, some emergency managers may be intimidated by the technical nature of GIS or fail to see its value for their work, and GIS experts themselves may not understand how to effectively communicate the value of their technology to emergency management officials. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been working to facilitate collaborative relationships among state and local agencies and institutions of higher education to make better use of GIS resources.