Mapping the Tornado Path: Partnership with Community for Nashville’s 2020 Disaster Recovery Program

Keywords: community mapping, disaster recovery
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 16

Abstract

The March 2020 F-3 tornado in Nashville caused over $1.5 billion in damage, becoming the 6th most costly tornado in U.S. history. Five persons were killed and 220 were injured, with hundreds of structures destroyed. The event, occurring just weeks before COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, required creative tools to aid recovery. The Geographic Information Systems Lab at Meharry Medical College with colleagues at Trevecca Nazarene University, partnered with the Nashville consortium, Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD), to plan a course of action. The academic partnership, using the MAPPLER database system, incorporated a wide array of data on impacted property parcels, combined with other socioeconomic characteristics. Iterative processes of community canvassing offered first-ever opportunity in Nashville for real-time data updates in disaster recovery. A series of community events organized by VOAD provided the principal researchers to offer data and input instruction to community volunteers for canvassing activity. Data collection allowed for visual identification of property damage, along with detailed household information collected in the house-by-house canvassing. Mapping displays were critical in ensuring the municipal public, private and nonprofit assistance was delivered in pinpoint manner based on pattern analysis of need. Metropolitan Social Services of Nashville-Davidson County served as an assistance organization for information relating to demographic and socioeconomic service delivery. The results of this program, modelled on MAPPLER use by Dr. Wansoo Im for aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, created a new, viable system for spatial analysis community partnership in Nashville.