GIS in emergency management

GIS is useful in emergency management by comprehensive emergency management. CEM has four phases namely Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and recovery. The role of GIS in emergency management can be examined by selecting a conceptual framework which helps to organize existing research and development activities, in the emergency management frame work is comprehensive emergency management. Hazard is defined as a threat, natural, technological, or civil to people, property and the environment.
Role of GIS in emergency management are in four phases the first phase is mitigation, natural hazard assessment and mapping, vulnerability assessment and mapping, risk assessment and mapping, hazard mitigation, vulnerability mitigation come under first phase. Preparedness and response is the next phase which includes disaster preparedness and response systems, emergency vehicle routing, evacuation planning, evacuation zoning and enhanced 911 (emergency-calling system that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party's telephone number). Recovery is the phase in which damage assessment, recovery analysis, disaster database design and risk education are provided. There is large scope of research for application of GIS in emergency management, though there are some limitations like availability of data, difficulty in understanding the errors in GIS modules, deficiencies of available software, necessary infrastructure.