Approaching the Earthquake Disaster Site in GIS Perspective - A Vision that Could Have Saved Lives

The catastrophe on 8th Oct 2005 has lead people to think of their safety and well being in the hands of the government. The response time to disaster along with the lack of institutional coherence to meet such a disaster, demands a high level of integrated emergency management system (IEMS). Collapse of a high rise building in Islamabad due to the earthquake of a 7.6 magnitude is taken as a base line to analyze the response to a disaster in absence of an IEMS in Islamabad, Pakistan. For prompt response & strengthening administration according to various disasters a system based on emergency call handling system, command & control system, based on remote sensing, GIS and various field supporting system which responds to disasters as soon as possible for Islamabad is suggested on lines of the Seoul emergency management center. The cost of the system is approximately USD $ 4 million for an area having 1 million population