Preparedness Planner - Hazard Explorer
Integrating GIS Into Your Planning Process
GIS is an integral part of the development and update process of Emergency Plans. Developing and exercising your emergency plans drives the preparedness activities of the community. Plans such as a jurisdiction’s Hazard Mitigation Plan and Threat Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment serve to identify the hazards and their potential impacts to a community. These analyses inform Operational Plans and drive exercise scenarios to test those plans. Below are common Emergency Management Plans, areas where geospatial tools and analysis play a role, and geospatial resources for both technical and non-technical staff.
The Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) is a three-step, common risk assessment process that helps the whole community to understand its risks and estimate capability requirements. Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 201 (CPG 201), 3rd Edition, is the authoritative guide from FEMA on conducting a THIRA and can assist locals with the 3 step process.
Geo-enabling Operational Plans informs course of action analysis and supports immediate socialization and transition to operations when needed. The result provides similar advantages of web-enabling a previously static document. Words on a page become an interactive experience and can expand on the original content, e.g., hyperlinks to real-world examples, embedded videos and dynamic maps.
FEMA’s Local Mitigation Planning Handbook serve as the most authoritative guide on Hazard Mitigation Planning. State, tribal, and local governments develop a hazard mitigation plan to understand risks from natural hazards and develop long-term strategies that will reduce the impacts of future events on people, property, and the environment. Geospatial analysis is critical to a comprehensive Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Handbook indicates that GIS specialists are a key partner responsible for the analysis and mapping support to the planning process.
The Incident Action Plan (IAP) is produced from the incident action planning process and defines the incident objectives for the next operational period of an incident. At a minimum, an incident map using standardized symbology is produced with the plan and includes incident location, geographic organization, and facilities. Geospatial analysis can assist with rapidly assessing the situation for the development of an IAP and provide situational awareness.
An Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) describes a government-level approach to emergency operations. Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans v2.0, is the guidance document from FEMA for developing an EOP. While EOP's can follow different formats, geospatial analysis is fundamental to a thorough understanding of hazards in a community and to the operationalization of plans developed to prepare for, respond to and recover from those hazards.
