Cityworks March 2010 Delivering Innovative GIS-Centric Maintenance Management Tools for Your Organization Note from the editor: InPrint articles are submitted months in advance. Sadly, as we prepared to print this issue, the January 12th earthquake that devastated Haiti occurred. With you, our thoughts and concerns are for the people of Haiti. Natural disasters, such as the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Katrina, are a reminder that we are all vulnerable. Our upcoming July issue will feature an update on Gulfport, Mississippi, and their recovery. It is our hope your organization will benefit from the emergency preparedness information in this issue.
Expect the Best, Prepare f o r t h e W o r s t – How Herriman, Utah, Uses Cityworks for Disaster Preparedness and Response
City of Charlotte, North Carolina, Utilizes Cityworks DataPump for Disaster Preparedness
By Steve Brown, ITS Manager, Herriman City, and Lindsay Ferguson, PR & Marketing, Azteca Systems
By Amy Rockwell, GISP Sr. Business Analyst, City of Charlotte Stormwater Services
Imagine you’re at home watching television, relaxing like any typical night, when a newsflash interrupts your program with warnings of a disaster in your geographical area. Would you have the comfort of knowing that the municipality you live in is prepared for such an event? At the City of Herriman, Utah, leaders are taking action to prepare for an emergency and are committed to ensure the citizens of their community are prepared for a disaster situation.
Fall 2009 marked the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Hugo. With its 90-mile-per-hour winds and torrential rain, Hugo swept through the City of Charlotte on the morning of September 22, 1989, creating one of the biggest disasters in the city’s history. The hurricane left 235,000 customers without power. It took City employees and private contractors five months just to clean up all the debris in the streets. The City realized they were not prepared for a catastrophe of this kind of magnitude. That weekend, a work management system was created in-house by two IT folks and a call center was formed. Hugo hasn’t been the only storm to wipe out power in Charlotte’s history; most recently the ice storm of 2002 did the same.
With its growing population and new economy, Herriman takes pride in their community while also recognizing the need to take emergency preparedness and response measures seriously. With many young families and children to consider, City management feels that being prepared for an emergency is a vital aspect of city planning and is taking action to head in the right direction.
Emergency response plans are considered with every project implemented in the City. The City realizes it is best to be prepared and take the time to practice for an emergency upfront so that if one ever happens, staff will Continued on page 33
Mock Disaster Drills In the spring and fall of 2009, Herriman conducted their biannual mock disaster drills incorporating Cityworks into their plan. Cityworks service requests were used to create event layers and to graphically view the issues associated with the disaster. Thanks to help from Wayne Hill, Azteca Systems’ Executive Director of Client & Information Services and a Herriman City resident, the City identified items to link with disaster Continued on page 34 Emergency Reponse Mobile Command Center
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Azteca Systems, Inc. | 801.523.2751 | www.cityworks.com A Z T E C A S Y S T E M S, I N C.