Outsmarting Disaster: AI Predicts Earthquakes, Fires, Floods

Source: Gov Tech by Jule Pattison-Gordon

As natural disasters grow more severe across the country, local governments are increasingly using predictive analytics to understand where and when an emergency will impact their communities.

When fires start in Gilpin County, Colo., they burn hot and grow fast. Floods in Texas’ San Antonio River basin spill across highways, blocking emergency responders, and Norfolk, Va., sees homes inundated by coastal storms. Earthquakes shaking the Pacific Northwest risk derailing trains, injuring residents and causing power outages at hospitals.

Prediction and early detection tools — as well as automated responses — aim to help local governments reduce the damages of these kinds of natural disasters. Today’s tools are warning residents, triggering mitigation and helping first responders react more effectively. As artificial intelligence (AI) advances, sensors proliferate and data collections grow, prediction and detection technologies are likely to become more precise and effective.

Tarek Ghani, assistant professor of strategy at Washington University’s Olin Business School, and Grant Gordon, former senior director of innovation strategy at the International Rescue Committee, envision using AI to predict disasters in advance, thus enabling responders to take swifter actions to prevent or mitigate them.

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