Updated Global Disaster Alert to allow faster humanitarian and relief response

European Commission' Joint Research Centre launches during the 2021 Humanitarian Network and Partnership Week a new version of the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) platform, which covers alerts for wildfires and features new tools for social media monitoring and satellite mapping of areas in distress and in need of immediate humanitarian intervention.

There are 40 000 users of the tool in the world, especially from the humanitarian response community. With wildfires included, GDACS now covers seven hazards: earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, volcanoes, droughts and floods.

The features in the updated version allow the combination of social media information with physical observations for faster and more detailed understanding of a disaster situation. The analysis of the tweets in the aftermath of the disaster aims to improve the immediate understanding of its impact, feeding information before news coverage starts.

Moreover, the features automatically calculates the areas that need to be observed by satellites, so images can be taken quicker and analysed for damage, allowing the responders in the field to quicker obtain analysis maps of the areas in distress.

The Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW), co-chaired by OCHA and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), provides a unique forum for humanitarian networks and partnerships to meet and address key humanitarian issues