Application of GIS for Disaster Response in Dense Urban Areas: A Case Study for Dhaka City

Geographical Information System (GIS) has been widely used in various steps of emergency management to contain the damages during any natural or manmade disasters within limit. For reliable results, updated baseline information such as road networks, travel-time data, landuse of area etc. are prerequisites in GIS environment. However, due to lack of advanced baseline inventory many developing countries are yet to exploit the benefits of GIS based analysis to a full extent. This study presents how effectively GIS can be used for emergency management for one of the most densely populated areas of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. The baseline information is collected from field survey and geocoded in ArcGIS environment. The authors propose an optimum route model to represent the actual travel time of the network in congested scenario. Using network analysis extension of ArcGIS, the vulnerable parts of the study area are exposed based on emergency response time of fire fighting stations and medical facilities, and distance from evacuation points. To enhance the disaster prepardness of the study area, Emergency Medical Service and/or Emergency Fire Response units have been proposed using location-allocation analysis by maximizing the coverage area. Propsed state of practice spatial analyses method presented in this study can be utilized in different spatial scales especially in regards to developing countries.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ60 Standing Committee on Geographic Information Science and Applications.
• Authors:
  • Hasnat, Md Mehedi
  • Islam, Md Rakibul
  • Hadiuzzaman, Md
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 10p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Disaster preparedness; Disasters and emergency operations; Emergency management; Geographic information systems; Urban areas
• Geographic Terms: Dhaka City (Bangladesh)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01661398
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-05649
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 27 2018 9:45AM