The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System provides near real-time alerts about natural disasters around the world and tools to facilitate response coordination, including media monitoring, map catalogues and Virtual On-Site Operations Coordination Centre.

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System

September 2009

Overview

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) is a cooperation framework under the United Nations umbrella with the aim to consolidate and strengthen the network of providers and users of disaster information worldwide in order to provide reliable and accurate alerts and impact estimations after sudden-onset disasters and to improve the cooperation of international responders in the immediate aftermath of major natural, technological and environmental disasters. To date, GDACS has more than 9000 subscribers to automatic disaster alerts and users of the Virtual OSOCC, and has become an integral part of international disaster response to sudden-onset disasters.

Objectives

GDACS is designed to fill the critical information and coordination gap that usually occurs in the first phase after major sudden-onset disasters. To achieve this, GDACS aims at facilitating coordination and decision-making primarily among bilateral responders and the affected country though reliable and timely alert notifications, automatic impact estimations, and the provision of a platform for structured information exchange between responders and coordinators.

Scope

GDACS services are activated at the forecast or occurrence of significant natural, technological, or environmental disasters. Disasters are considered significant when they have the potential to overwhelm the affected country’s response capacity and could result in the need for international assistance. GDACS covers the event throughout the response and relief phase, until the focus of international assistance shifts to rehabilitation and reconstruction. This usually covers a period of two to three weeks.

GBACS main activities:

1. Provision of automatic disaster alerts (by e-mail and SMS) and impact estimations (at www.gdacs.org) immediately after major sudden-onset disasters
2. Provision of the web-based platform “Virtual OSOCC” (at www.gdacs.org/virtualOSOCC) for disaster coordination. This website is restricted (password-protected) for disaster managers in governments and response organisations.
3. Strengthening the network of emergency managers and emergency operation centres of responding and disaster-prone countries and of disaster response organisations worldwide.
4. Development of standards for the exchange of disaster-related information relevant web-based information systems. Currently these are:
• Automatic impact estimations and secondary-risk analysis provided by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC/JRC) in Ispra, Italy, and the Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) at www.gdacs.org;
• Disaster information updates from the affected country and international responders on the Virtual OSOCC at www.gdacs.org/virtualOSOCC;
• Maps and satellite images from various providers (UNOSAT, MapAction, ReliefWeb);
• Reports from OCHA’s ReliefWeb;

GDACS Structure

GDACS Steering Committee

GDACS is governed by a Steering Committee consisting of Chairman and Vice-Chairman, representatives from national or regional disaster management entities form all regions, GDACS information service providers and the GDACS Secretariat (OCHA).

The purpose of the GDACS Steering Committee is to represent the interests of the international disaster response community by governing and overseeing the development of standardised disaster information procedures, tools and services, to coordinate information services, and to ensure sustainable support to the system.

Secretariat

The GDACS Secretariat is located in the Emergency Relief Coordination Centre (ERCC) in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva. The main responsibility of the GDACS Secretariat is to coordinate the activities of GDACS service providers and to organise and support GDACS meetings and technical workshops.

Users and Stakeholders

GDACS is a network of disaster managers in disaster-prone and responding countries and disaster response organizations worldwide.

GDACS Meetings

Steering Committee meeting

The GDACS Steering Committee meeting is held on an annual basis in conjunction with the GDACS Stakeholders meeting (see below).

The GDACS Stakeholders meeting

The GDACS Stakeholders meeting is held on a yearly basis. The meeting is chaired by the Chairman of the GDACS Steering Committee.

Working Group on disaster information standards

The Working Group on Disaster Information Standards aims at developing Guidelines for information exchange in the immediate aftermath of major sudden-onset disasters that require international assistance. The purpose of the guidelines is to increase predictability and quality of information in order to facilitate operational planning and decision-making in involved countries and organizations. The guidelines will define responsibilities, expected timeframes and quality of operational information from the affected country and potential responders. This working group will discontinue after completion of its task.

Working Group on maps and satellite images

The Working Group on Maps aims at developing procedures for cooperation among providers of maps and satellite-images to reduce overlap and duplication and ensuring optimal use of available capacity and expertise in this field. This working group will discontinue after completion of its task.

Publications and Presentations

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System: current status and way forward. Tom De Groeve, Thomas Peter, Alessandro Annunziato, Luca Vernaccini  Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT Description of the GDACS system.

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System: for more effective and efficient humanitarian response. Tom De Groeve  Wed, 05 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT Presentation of GDACS by the Joint Research Centre at the 14th Conference of the International Emergency Management Society, Trogir, Croatia.

GDACS brochure Tom De Groeve  Wed, 01 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT JRC Promotional Material on GDACS.

News and Events

Fifth GDACS Stakeholders Meeting
28-29 April 2009, Geneve, Switzerland
Chairman summary

Fourth GDACS Stakeholders Meeting
24-25 June 2008, Geneva, Switzerland
Chairman summary

Third GDACS Stakeholders Meeting
24-25 April 2007, Seggau, Austria

Second GDACS Stakeholders Meeting 21-22 March 2006, Geneva
15 months after the 1st meeting GDACS stakeholders evaluated progress.

GDACS Technical Meeting (13-14 December 2005, Ispra)
Review of GDACS standards, feeds and portal.

Data sources

GDACS collects information on natural hazards from available public web sites. More on data sources.

Participating organisations

Funding

GDACS is financially supported by the European Commission Office for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO)

© European Union, 2004-2010 Reproduction authorised provided the source is acknowledged, except for commercial purposes.