GEOSCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF HUMANKIND THROUGH GISCORPS: A VOLUNTEER'S ACCOUNT OF THE GIS RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA

Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. I received an urgent email from the Arkansas GIS User's Forum listserve. It was a request for volunteers forwarded from the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) GISCorps. I had never heard of URISA or the GISCorps, but I fit the description of who they were seeking. The request was for people with GIS and GPS skills and experience in working under harsh conditions who were willing to help the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency respond to the disaster. I volunteered and was deployed to Pearl River County, Mississippi on September 12 as a part of the second wave of GISCorps volunteers. We were sent in teams of two to the Emergency Operations Centers in each of the six worst affected counties in Mississippi. Our task was to facilitate map production, data management, and other critical spatially-related functions based on the immediate needs of the county emergency managers. For example, we produced maps of critical facilities labeled with their latitude and longitude coordinates for use by responders who were navigating on the ground with GPS devices. We slept on cots in an office, ate MRE's, and put in 12+ hour days. The experience was both personally and professionally positive. I was able to donate my time and skills to the hurricane relief effort and in the process extended my knowledge base of GIS applications and data limitations. The geological community has a pool of qualified people who should participate in the GISCorps. In doing so, we can help fulfill the Geological Society of America's mission to promote the geosciences in the service of humankind.