Many communities throughout the country are investing in GIS-based parcel inventories. There are numerous potential uses for geographically accurate property ownership and land value data. One potential use for this type of data is to support quick and accurate damage assessments after a disaster strikes. Local officials are responsible for establishing and training damage assessment teams to go out into the field after an event to estimate the magnitude of disaster impacts. The results of these surveys are used primarily to determine resource requirements and to request state and federal disaster assistance. The accuracy of this information, however, is often questionable and the use of these damage assessments for broader analytical purposes is usually extremely limited. The use of GIS, however, can potentially simplify the damage assessment process, create more accurate results, and develop detailed data for analyzing disaster impacts.

New Hanover County, North Carolina, having suffered through three major hurricane events over a three-year period, was all too familiar with the damage assessment process. The county was interested in using their parcel-level database and GIS to both expedite and improve the quality of the results of the initial damage assessments. They were specifically interested in designing a process that uses a mapping interface to locate facility and parcel data and enter damage assessment results that can automatically be tallied at the end of a survey session. The key to this process was to create a GIS application that could easily be used by inspectors and surveyors with no GIS experience. Following is a description of such an application, along with a tutorial providing step-by-step instructions on its use. Keep in mind that this application can be transferred to and used by other localities with only minor modifications.

What is the Damage Assessment Tool?

1. The Damage Assessment Tool is an application that utilizes a custom designed interface to interact with an ArcView GIS database (in this case New Hanover County’s parcel database).

How do you use the tool?

1. The user selects a parcel by pointing to it on a map (from an existing GIS database).

Figure 4.23. Example of a parcel that has been selected

• The application automatically pulls up the parcel identification number, street address, land use code, and property value for the site selected.

• The user activates one of the three pre-designed Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) forms for entering damage information (business, housing, or public assistance forms).

Figure 4.24. Example of the three pre-designed FEMA forms

• The user enters the damage information required on the applicable form and it is automatically captured into a database.

Figure 4.25. The form used to enter damage information for housing units

What do you get from using the tool?

1. From this process, the user obtains a visual record of property surveyed during the damage assessment process.

Figure 4.26. Example of an assessment

• A hard copy printout of completed FEMA damage assessment forms.

Figure 4.27. A hard copy printout of a completed FEMA damage assessment form

• The summaries of damage assessment totals for property values and damages.

Figure 4.28. Example of summaries of damage assessment totals for property values and damages

• The estimates of potential damages for use in pre-event planning.