Lifesaving development in disaster action– because seconds count

Material offered by AWS

By Grace Kitzmiller, Principal Product Supervisor, AWS Catastrophe Reaction

When a natural disaster strikes, it’s all hands on deck. When Typhoon Harvey hit Texas, the state of emergency situation needed quick actions throughout the community. In the immediate after-effects, the impacted locations urgently required water rescue volunteers. Group Rubicon, a not-for-profit emergency situation action company of knowledgeable military veterans and first responders, felt forced to act despite no prior experience with floodwater saves. Three days after the hurricane made landfall, the group deployed six boat rescue groups to the Houston location.


Water rescue operations conducted by the Texas National Guard during Hurricane Harvey. (image/Texas National Guard)

After releasing to Texas, the team had problem with determining which location needed the most help. Group Rubicon leaned on its partnership with Maxar Technologies, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advanced Consulting Partner that holds the AWS Public Safety and Catastrophe Action Proficiency. Maxar supplies high-resolution satellite images and geospatial analytics that offer important, timely insights to emergency responders at scale.

Maxar used SecureWatch, its cloud-based subscription service for on-demand access to satellite images and Earth Intelligence. By utilizing SecureWatch and fresh, post-hurricane satellite images, Group Rubicon identified the satisfactory paths and essential launch points where the group could access locals stranded by flooding.

“With a lot of individuals trapped without electricity, food, or water, we didn’t have time to lose,” said TJ Porter, field operations, Team Rubicon.

With SecureWatch, Group Rubicon conserved precious hours that would have otherwise been spent driving around trying to find access routes.

AWS Competency Partners concentrate on your success

Proficiency partners like Maxar help customers make the most of the advantages that AWS has to use. They demonstrate know-how recognizing, building, and executing innovation that enhances organizational capability to get ready for, respond to, and recover from emergency situations and catastrophes. With deep technical competence and innovative solutions, AWS Public Safety and Catastrophe Response Competency Partners leverage the AWS Cloud in locations where communication and web access is degraded or completely inaccessible.

Distinctively positioned to help business attain crucial business objectives, AWS Proficiency Partners provide solutions that turn complicated, dynamic operating environments into manageable life-saving operations. When reacting to an emergency, seconds matter. AWS Public Security and Catastrophe Action Competency Partners provide actionable information that enables you to move faster and help more individuals.

For Team Rubicon, Maxar is a relied on innovation partner that assists in saving lives throughout catastrophe reaction missions. “Maxar’s geospatial data allows us to gain access to details faster and efficiently direct our teams based upon what we see. Using data permits us to be more innovative in this market, move much faster, and assist more individuals. Eventually, we’re able to affect more people and develop a better world,” stated Lauren Vatier, National Planning and Catastrophe Response at Group Rubicon.

AWS Competency Partners are vetted, confirmed, and verified

To achieve and preserve an AWS Proficiency, AWS Partners must go through rigorous validation in addition to an evaluation of the security, efficiency, and reliability of their AWS offerings and practices. AWS Innovation Partners need to likewise undergo a Well Architected Evaluation throughout the application process to demonstrate that they are following AWS finest practices for architecting systems in the cloud.

Team up with an AWS Competency Partner

If you’re aiming to improve organizational capability to get ready for, react to, and recover from emergencies and catastrophes, AWS Public Safety and Catastrophe Reaction Proficiency Partners have the know-how and comprehensive capability to help you save more lives.

The AWS Proficiency designation helps you recognize and select specialized public security and catastrophe response partners that can supply value-added services and options. Guidance from these skilled specialists results in better outcomes. Find out more about how AWS Public Security and Catastrophe Reaction Proficiency Partners are assisting government companies.