Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/46658
Humanitarian Relief internally displaced people (IDP) camps could be iden- tified. GIS was able to provide DART with GPS coordi- nates of these IDP camps. Before the team landed in Port au Prince, the GIS department also was able to identify possible locations for water-filter systems, using the imagery showing IDP camps and overlaying the river or drainage layer, elevation and roads. This gave DART a direction to go when the planes finally were allowed to land. With imagery from DigitalGlobe and GeoEye being released with such frequency, Samaritan's Purse was able to show the effects of its response by comparing images taken the day before a shelter-material distri- bution and the day after the response team visited the area, as seen in Figure 2. The blue shelter mate- rial is prevalent in the second image, giving donors a powerful visual representation of the relief efforts that Samaritan's Purse was initiating. Complete Response The disaster-relief stage of a response moves on quickly to a longer-term relief and aid effort with the selection of a permanent base of operations. The base needed to manage long-term interventions in Haiti was selected with the help of the GIS Department, using satellite imagery. The goal was to find a place that was safe for volunteers and staff to stay just outside the disaster area, while being on a major transportation route with easy access to the airport. lSamaritan's Purse used GIS to help predict the spread of cholera, as the outbreak was worse than first reported. The area selected for the Samaritan's Purse com- pound was just north of Port au Prince near a major highway that runs along the island's western coast. This decision proved to be an important one for the Samaritan's Purse team because, soon after the site was selected, securing release of aid from the airport became increasingly difficult, forcing DART to look for a sea port as an alternative entry point for supplies and equipment. This was done using satellite imagery, taking into consideration the base location and travel time to and from the port. Samaritan's Purse started building shelter communi- ties to provide semi-permanent structures for families to call their own. Although this couldn't replace the losses Haitian people had endured, it gave recipients some place to call home. Land to build shelters in and around Port au Prince lA Samaritan's Purse finished shelter community is ready for displaced people, providing a temporary private living space for families while they put the pieces of their lives back together. 20 GEO W ORLD / OC TOBER 2O11 was hard to acquire, so GIS was used in site selection. The sites chosen were close to current IDP camps, and they had a water source nearby as well as access to