InaSAFE 2.0: Software puts disaster relief in the picture
The software was developed with input from Geoscience Australia (GA) as well as Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the World Bank.
The updated version of InaSAFE 2.0 will help improve disaster preparedness by providing a new way to combine scientific hazard information and community knowledge on disaster risk.
Australia’s Minister-Counsellor for Development Cooperation in Indonesia, Jean-Bernard Carrasco, said InaSAFE 2.0 had the ability to work with road data, including a capability to download road information directly from the online mapping tool OpenStreetMap.
Mr Carrasco said the new functions could help when planning possible evacuation and emergency response routes.
“With the help of Australian Government Agency Geoscience Australia and the Australia-Indonesia facility for Disaster Reduction, over 1.3 million buildings have already been mapped in OSM and this data is being incorporated into InaSAFE,” he said.
Mr Carrasco said the updated software was compatible with the free and open source Geographic Information System QGIS 2.0, and allowed users to import spatial data from remote sources and create custom impact map templates.
The World Bank, through its Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery is facilitating use of InaSAFE across the world including Africa and countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Dr Jim Y Kim, President of the World Bank, recently listed use of InaSAFE as one of the Seven Steps to Surviving a Disaster.
InaSAFE 2.0 is free and open source software that provides disaster managers with a simple but rigorous tool for evidence-based disaster planning.
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