| Home | Highlights | Intro | Objective | System | More |

As we all Know too well, Misleading Information Can Have Fatal Consequences for Emergency Response

In a worst case scenario, the emergency response teams must consider the possibility that the maps automatically popping up on their computer screens may be misleading. There may be inadequate data from an area most desperately in need of help.

As seen in Diagram 1, in a severe earthquake it is precisely the area that has been most damaged that may be unable to communicate this information to the relevant decisionmakers.

Even in the best of cases, there will be a tendency for the worst shaking to be the least and last reported. If this possibility is not considered—in particular in a really severe event—emergency response managers could make fatal errors when they dispatch their teams.