Better Computing, Communication for Emergency Personnel at Disaster Sites

Hurricane Katrina. The Southeast Asian tsunami. Now the killer earthquake in Haiti, which has claimed upwards of 50,000 lives. In each case, the response to a natural disaster has been further complicated by the difficulty delivering medical care in a chaotic environment where the communications infrastructure on the ground is seriously damaged or completely destroyed. To address that problem, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have launched a project to find better ways for emergency officials and first responders to talk to each other and share data on the ground at the scene of a natural or man-made disaster ? even when the local communications infrastructure is out of commission. Approximately $1.5 million annually over two years in 'stimulus' funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) will underwrite the WIISARD SAGE project. NLM is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).