Resilience Scanner

Disaster Assessment and Assistance Dashboard (DAAD)

Solution Overview

The Disaster Assessment and Assistance Dashboard (DAAD) was deployed in San Francisco as a pilot after receiving endorsement by FEMA to be part of its open data initiative.[1][2][10] San Francisco became the first city to test the app, and pending budget approval, the platform was slated for official purchase in June.[5] Mark Farrell, San Francisco's District 2 county supervisor, stated that the city adopted the dashboard because of its ability to centralize help for residents.[3][18]

Technical Components

DAAD draws information from numerous hubs comprised of FEMA's own open data APIs (application programming interfaces), city and regional information, and on-the-ground citizen feedback.[19] When fully developed, the dashboard will harness disaster information from more than 100 application programming interfaces (APIs) and will be filled with hundreds of data sets to help citizens and emergency crews assess current situations.[22] In 2014, a cohort of concerned Bayview residents worked closely with City staff and Appallicious to develop San Francisco's first daily-use Digital Community Resilience Platform.[6] Following San Francisco's public-facing launch, a mobile version and formats for multiple languages were in the works.[9][13]

Implementation Details

Appallicious CEO Yo Yoshida indicated that the company would likely pilot the Disaster Assessment and Assistance Dashboard with the city of San Francisco for 90 days before formally offering it to communities.[11] In the coming weeks after July 2014, San Francisco residents and businesses would have a chance to submit information to the beta version of DAAD as the dashboard was introduced to the public by city and county departments.[4][21] During the pilot, the San Francisco Fire Department's Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT), an emergency training program for citizens, worked with Appallicious to provide feedback and inspire crowdsourced engagement.[7][12] The Office of Resilience and Recovery partnered with the San Francisco Public Libraries to conduct community outreach meetings at the City's 29 libraries, building on the work already being done in the libraries to reimagine these neighborhood spaces as gathering sites.[14] ORR and Appallicious piloted a new community-level dashboard in 29 neighborhoods as part of ORR's strategic outreach partnership with the San Francisco Public Libraries.[15][16][17] Once released to cities, a freemium version of the app would be available for basic use.[20]

Benefits and Impacts

San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell stated that the Disaster Assessment and Assistance Dashboard helps build communication and collaboration among all stakeholders involved in planning and recovery on a citywide basis, allowing the city to learn lessons, create standards and become more efficient through all phases of disaster—planning, response and recovery.[8] For San Francisco, the platform was an integral tool in the city's resiliency plans for all kinds of disasters, large or small.[5] San Francisco's Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN) developed a model for building community resilience that works with residents, community organizations, and faith-based groups to build local capacity and foster collaboration.[23]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

The dashboard serves as a comprehensive disaster management tool designed to support San Francisco's resilience planning across multiple hazard scenarios. By centralizing disaster information and enabling collaboration among stakeholders, the system enhances the city's capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related emergencies and other disasters affecting urban communities.

Sources