Nov. 12, 2014
Hughes Network Systems,
LLC, the All Hazards Consortium (AHC) – a non-profit
organization focus on homeland security, emergency
management, and business continuity issues, and the
AHC's private sector run Multi-State Fleet Response
Working Group (Working Group), today announced a
strategic information sharing partnership to aid in
future disaster preparedness, response, and
community resilience.
Under the partnership,
Hughes will cooperate to provide information on
areas affected by disaster to the Multi-State Fleet
Response Working Group allowing responders to more
accurately locate operational commercial facilities
offering food, gas, accommodation and medical
supplies. The Working Group is managing access to
the information as a service through a secure online
portal for pre-approved disaster response leaders,
referred to as the Fleet Open/Closed Service.
"This partnership with
Hughes has made it possible to provide critical
infrastructure organizations and first responders
(and eventually citizens) with real-time information
that helps them to meet their basic needs while
responding to a disaster, but that's only the
beginning," said
Tom Moran,
Executive Director, All Hazards Consortium.
"Decision-makers can use the information to help
pre-position assets to mitigate the effects of a
disaster, as well as improve response efforts and
communications to citizens on where they can find
open businesses to get coffee, food, gasoline, hotel
rooms, medications, water, first aid supplies and
other household items. It also serves a larger
purpose by making available for the first time a
unique regional economic resilience and business
continuity capability that previously did not
exist."
The raw data supplied by
Hughes will be processed by the All Hazards
Consortium's partner Integrity Consulting and run
through visualization software, providing end-users
of the service with a graphic representation of the
data overlaid on a map of
the United States. This enables
decision-makers and emergency operators to quickly
locate and zoom in/out on problem areas and gain an
immediate understanding of the local, regional,
and/or national scope of the crisis.
"This partnership, drawing
on lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy – one of
the most severe disasters in recent memory – has
paved the way for private sector organizations to
involve themselves with the All Hazards Consortium's
Multi-State Fleet Response Working Group and give
back to communities by helping them prepare and
respond better," said
Tony Bardo,
assistant vice president for Government Solutions at
Hughes. "We look forward to working with these
organizations to help support this vital disaster
response and recovery effort."
