Leveraging Information Systems for Disaster Management

Disaster Management Name: Institution: Introduction Disasters, minor or major have a common place in organizations. What makes the difference between the various organizations is the preparedness to such eventualities and mainly regarding how fast they can recover from disasters (The World Bank, 2013). All this depends on disaster management strategies that are in place and particularly how effective they are when put to the test by event such as floods, fires earthquakes theft among the most costly disasters. In the wake of technology advancements, most of the organizations have turned to information systems, to prove them with that edge of disaster preparedness and robust recovery systems protocol. These technological applications are varied in stealth and techniques (Community Compliance, 2013). From simple but crucial Smartphone applications to complicated telecommunications infrastructures, such as the GIS integrated systems. All of which are designed to help organizations and businesses spring back from the setback, as quickly as possible and with the highest data integrity. Discussion The most recent intervention in risk management has been the Smartphone’s applications. Smartphone have become a way of life in the recent past and still continue to gain popularity at an exponential rate. The most common platforms that are used by the Smartphone’s manufacturers are Android, iOS and the Blackberry among other that are emerging (Control Solutions, 2013). Application developers have developed quite a number of applications that can be downloaded by the users for free with a few exceptions. These are exceptional tools in the case of a disaster as much of the data transfer is done in real time, making very fast, but come with the limitation of overreliance to the internet which in case of a disaster may not be functional. Websites such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have also been on the forefront of combating the disasters. The information that the websites contain is priceless and is meticulously organized for ease of access and application. Much of the information is about actual risk management lessons, including videos, photos and customer care resources that organizations ,businesses and individuals can put to good use. This is information that regularly updated and thus provides the readers with the most current and relevant information about risk management and preparedness. At the business and organizational levels, GIS and remote sensing have been widely applied to cope with disaster and hasten recovery systems. With these kinds of information systems the businesses can be in a position to access data remotely, from secured storage systems. GIS has been put to a lot of use and the most common one is hazard mapping, where the systems are used to monitor natural disasters such as the fires, floods, hurricanes and earth quakes (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2013). Using the remote sensing technology the organizations can be in a position to observe from a distance the events of any of the disasters. With the remote sensing ...