Collaborated on the NIEHS Hurricane Response and GIS web site
Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, scientists and decision makers needed data, information, and tools to: (1) monitor and evaluate human- and environmental-health impacts in the Gulf Coast Region; (2) assess and reduce human exposures to contaminants; and (3) develop science-based remediation, rebuilding, and repopulation strategies.
MDB, Inc. — in collaboration with Duke University, the University of California - San Diego, RTI International, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)—built the NIEHS Hurricane Response and GIS website. The site serves as a national resource for tracking environmental hazards and focusing various medical and environmental responses. Its goal is to provide tools and information to support decisions and research related to:
- Assessment of human exposures that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the disaster;
- Evaluation of the potential for future exposures so as to aid strategies that reduce or eliminate such exposures;
- Identification and assessment of contaminated areas in order to inform development of remediation strategies;
- Identification of sources and routes of contaminants; and
- Establishment of programs to monitor/evaluate human- and environmental-health impacts.
The completed site provides common access and the ability to share information, software, and computer processes across organizational boundaries within a user-friendly, highly customizable environment. It also allows users to access demographic, public-health, infrastructure, and environmental data, all of which are geo-referenced. The spatial datasets incorporated into the website include basic infrastructure data (such as roads and electric power plants) and potential contaminant release sources (including Superfund and Toxic Release Inventory sites), hurricane-flooding data, U.S. Census data, physiographic data, and remote-sensing imagery both pre- and post-Katrina.
MDB also worked with the NIEHS grantee community and external partners to construct a wide-ranging GIS database and highly functional interface to assist environmental and public-health officials (from CDC, EPA, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi) in responding to the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Ultimately, the
NIEHS Hurricane Response and GIS 
website was expanded to be a resource for
environmental and public-health officials in all natural disasters. The website provides access to GIS maps containing demographic and
infrastructure information as well as locations of potential sources of environmental contamination. The data presented on the site support
the environmental-health community’s efforts to address the uncertainty of risk of exposure to disaster-related contaminants.
