Over the last two decades, remarkable innovations such as the Internet of things (IoT) have entered the mainstream. While the intensity of natural disasters is increasing, advances in communications because of this technology has greatly reduced casualties and injuries. For instance, agencies such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leveraged big data technology to predict hurricane Harvey’s landfall and coordinate emergency response personnel.

 

The technology helped the agencies choose ideal disaster response staging locations and evacuation routes as well as pinpoint likely flooding areas and prepare accordingly. Additionally, agencies throughout the storm impact area used machine learning algorithms to dictate the trajectory of the storm and its potential damage.