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hindsight [ g u e s t e d i to r i a l]It Is the Best of Times;It Is the Worst of Times“It was the best of times,it was the worst of times…” Thusbegins Charles Dickens’ novel, A Taleof Two Cities. Dickens might have beendescribing the information technologyexplosion that all of us have witnessedsince 9/11. How else do we describe theincredible push for new and advancedtechnologies, yet the failure to use thesetechnologies effectively to prevent orminimize the catastrophes that have sweptthrough the world in the past two years?Disaster experts around the world havecontinually warned governments and thepublic about the possibility of “worstcase”natural hazard scenarios and theiroverwhelming impacts. Yet, planning forthe occurrence of these events has fallenfar short of need. The large earthquakethat occurred off the coast of Sumatra,which resulted in one of the deadliesttsunamis ever recorded, was a painfulreminder that living in some of the mostdesirable areas of the world does haveits risks. We all have enjoyed the fun ofrestful visits to coastal resort communitiesall around the world, and we rarely thinkabout earthquakes or tsunamis interferingwith this enjoyment. Yet, they take us bysurprise. Before these events do occur,there should be adequate education foreveryone on what actions areappropriate, as well as aneffective warning system totrigger the right actions.Although predicted someyears ago, the disaster inNew Orleans after HurricaneKatrina was still a huge surpriseto many, including some keygovernment agencies. Whileone can argue that the calamitythat occurred was brought on by the “perfectstorm,” one cannot argue that the responseby key government organizations, as theyattempted to provide emergency support toRonald T.EguchiPresident/CEOImageCat, Inc.Long Beach, Calif.www.imagecatinc.comEmail Ron at rte@imagecatinc.com.New Orleans and to the other areas affectedby the hurricane, was timely or effective.Whether the emergency response systemwas taxed at all levels of government to apoint where it became dysfunctional will bea topic that will be discussed for many years.One can hope that such discussion willresult in significant changes that will preventthis type of catastrophic failurefrom occurring ever again.Proper use of geospatialtechnologies could have helpedalleviate some of the confusionand suffering of New Orleans’citizens, and, properly applied,these technologies can helpresponse teams to alleviate,and even prevent, the samekind of suffering in the future.In both of these events, there werebright spots that had to do with technologiesattempting to find some role in(continued on page 37)38 s u m m e r 2 0 0 6 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m