CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - When U.S. copywriter and editor Jane Mackay got lost in the woods, she had the skills and ability to document her emotions and experience accurately. It's rare rescue personnel ever get lost (that's why we're the ones on rescue teams!), so take this unique opportunity to get inside the head of the other side and understand what they are going through, their thought patterns, and their decisions.

Jane sent us her story.

"I can see your lights!" I yell, trying to keep hysteria out of my voice. "I can see your lights below me and to my right! Keep coming UP!" They do and at last, there they are. A dog leading a woman in camouflage wet weather gear, a man a few steps behind her. As they clamber wearily up the slope my friend exclaims, "Oh, you wonderful people!" and I shower them with effusive thanks.

It's Mendocino County Search and Rescue who find them this time. Congratualtions on a good find by China and Dustin. Read on...

Lost by Jane Mackay

UPDATE (17th JAN): Satellite imagery of post-earthquake Port au Prince is now automatically available in D4H. There is no requirement to export your data. The imagery Is 50 cm color imagery taken from Digital Globe’s new Worldview 2 satellite.



HAITI - The country of Haiti has just experienced an earthquake with a severe catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake. The International Red Cross has stated that as many as 3 million people have been affected by the quake with as many as 100,000 deaths estimated within the first 24 hours. Decisions For Heroes is offering their life saving web-based rescue team management tool and support staff free to all teams responding for the duration of their mission. For more information, read our press release.

If your team is one of the 40+ international response teams travelling to respond to the ongoing rescue phase in Haiti you can configure your system to import satellite imagery taken since the earthquake to compare with images before. Google have provided a KML layer for the latest imagery, with everything you need to overlay your Decisions For Heroes data.

1. If you do not have it already, Download Google Earth.

2. Sign-in to your rescue teams Decisions For Heroes account.

3. Click [Activities]->[Incidents] and filter the date range for your export.

4. Click [Export To Google Earth], and open the KML file that is downloaded.

5. Download and open the ~10:27 EST 13th January 2010 Haiti Imagery Layer KML (provided by Google and GeoEye). This file contains data relevant to the crisis repsonse and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Using this imagery with Decisions For Heroes will allow easy-to-generate statistics that can be used to observe patterns and reduce further incidents in aftershocks in Haiti. With integrated mapping, response teams can generate heat maps of their incident areas and compare them to their training locations. With this data the team can now approach other organisations with real measurements to show where efforts should be located and public safety awareness focussed.

Decisions For Heroes is available to all rescue teams globally, and teams can get started online at www.decisionsforheroes.com. Please help us and share this on Facebook using the button below.

DUBLIN, IRELAND - As part of its PSAR (Preventative Search and Rescue) initiative, Howth Coast Guard deployed 'Decisions for Heroes' in in April 2008 as a reporting and analytics tool that helps search and rescue teams to prevent accidents and emergencies by tracking call-out patterns.

Press Officer Fergus Cooney was recently interviewed in the Emergency Services Ireland magazine about Decisions For Heroes.

"We can log on from anywhere and input information like, for example, whether or not an incident is cliff-related. We can then look at how many incidents we have had at a particular spot over the last quarter, for example, and take action to prevent further accidents of incidents in that location." "The [software] allowed us to quickly identify days and times that were high-risk. We found that there tended to be more incidents on Sunday afternoons. What we then did was try to get crew members to do foot or boat patrols so we could prevent something before it happened or respond quickly. We are a voluntary operation so this approach helps us to plan and to use our resources effectively."

The full article is available in our Electronic Press Kit.

We continue to work with Howth Coast Guard on tools for PSAR campaign tracking. These tools will soon be made available to all accounts. If you or your team would like to contribute your methods to have them included, make contact support@decisionsforheroes.com

To get an account for your rescue team, request a free trial.