Conclusions and Recommendations

During the response to the attacks on WTC, the role of the USACE was to support US&R teams, provision of temporary emergency power to critical facilities, technical assistance for the debris removal operations and the management of the landfill operations. From a perspective of the typical USACE response operations, the WTC response was a small-scale disaster covering an area of only approximately 16 acres, whereas in typical cases, the USACE responds to earthquakes, hurricanes and floods that extend beyond boundaries of several different jurisdictions covering thousands of acres. Besides, unlike the typical Corps missions, the Corps played a support role (technical consulting) given that the City of New York had the necessary resources. It can be inferred that given the very small but highly urbanized geographic area, and the massive presence of local response forces, the WTC operations did not require the full use and power of GTs.

The ESF#3 USACE mission required the use of GTs primarily for (1) monitoring stability of buildings, and (2) quantification of debris for reduction, removal and disposal. For debris estimates, building drawings, floor plans, maps, aerial orthophotos, LIDAR and various 3D GIS models of the area surrounding the WTC were used but the direct use of GT by the ESF#3 Team on the ground at WTC was minimal.

The ESF#5 Team employed and even customized COTS products such as Transportation Network Analyst, Spatial Analyst, Image Analyst and 3-D Analyst in order to help estimate the quantity of debris and to estimate the optimal routes between debris site and the landfill site. The accuracy of the results was limited by the inaccuracy and late availability of LIDAR data. The outputs generated by these models were used during the briefings to help members of the ESF#3 Team. The database to support these models was obtained from FEMA through NYC. The models were very appropriate since the results obtained from these models were within a reasonable range and the ESF#5 members had utilized those applications successfully in past disasters.

ESF#3 team in support of ESF#9 members supplemented the FEMA US&R Task Forces to assist the US&R activities. Major areas of concern were the stability of the subterranean slurry wall and shoring of the damaged buildings to mitigate “spear” falling hazards.  To track these concerns, digital maps and some 3D models were developed.  FEMA supported the US&R Task Force at the Javits Convention Center by providing mapping and imagery products including, a hazards map depicting the reach of cranes and debris, a mapping product identifying the searched areas, a general base-map of US&R operations facilities, and a situation map of updated daily imagery.

The USACE SS team used floor-by-floor “collapsed status maps” prepared by the ESF#5 team for their US&R missions. The color-coded collapsed status maps were made from hand-sketched drawings of the limits of collapse observed below the ground levels. The USACE, through its GIS personnel, worked with FEMA to create Building Status Maps (on waterproof paper and containing building names and numbers) for DMATs.  Both of these mapping products were distributed to the FDNY and served mission critical purposes.

Based on the personal interviews, meetings with the officials and document review, the study team derived the following recommendations (listed in descending priority) for the USACE for its future missions:

1. For a large-scale disaster, assign (a) GIS Action Officer(s) to the ESF#3 teams to assist in translating operational requirements to GT products and providing those products.  GIS Action Officers identified for this type of assignment (a cadre of deployable GIS Action Officers) should receive ESF#3 Assistant Team Leader and PRT training.
2. Encourage USACE District GIS Personnel to support local government infrastructure data collection. Conduct a pilot program to determine resource impacts before making support of local data collection efforts a requirement.
3. The USACE should monitor, and when possible, participate in the multiple on-going and future efforts to collect and catalog infrastructure data that supports USACE missions.  This will be a very personnel intensive effort requiring central coordination and a division of labor amongst technical personnel.
4. The USACE should model, and update as necessary, the all hazard threat profile.  The model would allow prioritization and resource allocation in support of the need to collect and catalog infrastructure data.
5. Acquiring the data to support the modeling efforts is critical to mission success. No matter how good the GT models are, they have little use unless the data to populate the model is timely and accurate. The USACE should devise plans to acquire timely and accurate data for mission success.
6. The USACE should utilize District GIS personnel in support roles during response operations to capitalize on existing local relationships.
7. The USACE should develop a GIS specific style guide to include guidelines such as map size, map material (waterproof and ability to mark up the map), map colors, etc. with the goal of maximizing the utility of GT products for operational personnel.
8. The USACE should work towards reducing the hardcopy output and providing portable electronic devices, i.e. handheld devices (PDA) with map display capabilities using wireless and cell phone connections that allow operational personnel to view and mark up digital maps in order to eliminate paperwork and provide custom and timely information.
9. If FEMA and the USACE are to use different GIS software, those USACE personnel who may be detailed to support ESF#5 should be trained and proficient in both ESRI and MapInfo products. USACE should also consider pre-identifying and prioritizing those personnel who will potentially support ESF#5 for more in-depth training.