Technical and Situational Awareness Resources
CASPER is a type of Rapid Needs Assessment (RNA) that provides household-level information to public health leaders and emergency managers. The information generated can be used to initiate public health action, identify information gaps; facilitate disaster planning, response, and recovery activities; allocate resources, and assess new or changing needs in the community.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) Map
CDC SVI uses U.S. Census data to determine the social vulnerability of every census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. The CDC SVI ranks each tract on 15 social factors, including poverty, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing, and groups them into four related themes: socioeconomic status, household composition, race/ethnicity/language, and housing/transportation. CDC SVI can help public health officials and local planners better prepare for and respond to emergency events like hurricanes, disease outbreaks, or exposure to dangerous chemicals.
U.S. Health & Human Services (HHS) emPOWER Map
Over 2.6 million Medicare beneficiaries rely on electricity-dependent durable medical and assistive equipment and devices, such as ventilators, to live independently in their homes. Severe weather and other emergencies, especially those with prolonged power outages, can be life-threatening for these individuals. The HHS emPOWER Map is updated monthly and displays the total number of at-risk electricity-dependent Medicare beneficiaries in a geographic area (i.e., state, territory, county, or ZIP Code), as well as near real-time natural hazard data.
Map users can select different geographies, as needed, to identify at-risk populations and download selected data results to inform emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation public health activities.
Rx Open – Find Nearby Open Pharmacies in Areas Impacted by Disasters
Rx Open, formerly called the Pharmacy Status Reporting Tool, helps patients get access to medicine in an emergency by mapping the location of open and closed pharmacies in a disaster stricken area on the www.RxOpen.org and www.HealthcareReady.org websites. It also shows open American Red Cross shelters.
In developing Rx Open, Healthcare Ready partnered with the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), as well as the pharmacy switches/clearinghouses responsible for processing pharmacy payments – eRx Network (an Emdeon company) and RelayHealth. These partnerships form the basis of Rx Open.
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Power Outage Viewer
The MEMA power outage map displays service interruptions from all the electric companies in the state on a town level. The data on the map is updated every 15 minutes. Please note that the map does not report power outages in territories served by municipally owned electric utilities and does not display service interruption by road.
