GEOLOGICAL HAZARDS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SUPPORT, AND MISSION READY PACKAGES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA

The Geological Survey of Alabama (GSA) is a natural resource data gathering and research agency whose mission is to explore and evaluate mineral, water, energy, and biological resources, as well as to evaluate geological hazards, in the State of Alabama. Geological hazards researched by GSA include earthquakes, sinkholes, landslides, radon, and coastal erosion.

Through the years, GSA has worked closely with Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) on planning earthquake response and exercises, mapping and researching earthquake activity and vulnerability, documenting and mapping geologic hazards for hazard mitigation plans, and providing GIS support during natural disasters. Response on the state level has included responses to hurricanes, a tornado outbreak, and winter storms. On the county level, information support has also been provided for environmental situations in karst (sinkhole) settings.

One recent GSA-AEMA cooperative activity was the building of geology- and GIS-specific mission ready packages (MRP) for the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) in the Mutual Aid Support System. This national system is a platform through which agencies can 1) post their resources available for other agencies, counties, and states to use during disaster response and 2) request and track resource help from others. With help from AEMA and EMAC specialists, GSA compiled information in templates for three MRPs. The titles (and mission capabilities) of these MRPs include the following: Geology Field Reconnaissance Support (a geologist to map and record impacts in the field), State Geological Survey Representative Support (a coordinating geologist to work at the AEMA emergency operations center (EOC)), and a GIS Specialist or a GIS-proficient geologist (to map and geospatially analyze and coordinate event data).

The MRP forms give general resource descriptions of staff of each MRP title. In more detail, however, the GSA’s field geologists have specialties in mapping geology of the Highland Rim, Cumberland Plateau, Valley and Ridge, and coastal geology. Geologists for the EOC have disaster response experience and training in the incident command system. GIS staff are proficient in ESRI ArcGIS desktop software and data, ArcGIS Online, aerial imagery, Lidar, and spatial analyses.