Pierce County Emergency Management and Information Technology won both a national and international awards competition for its new Damage Assessment Mobile Application. The International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) announced on Tuesday that Pierce County’s new application won the IAEM-USA Technology & Innovation Award, and then went on to win the IAEM-Global Award in the same category.

The Damage Assessment mobile application allows emergency responders and volunteers to take pictures of property damaged by disasters, take notes on the property and immediately upload the information into the emergency operations center (EOC) web-based system, WebEOC. A map is displayed with the damaged properties, utilizing GPS, and is analyzed by the damage assessment center.

“This tool allows us to do the entire damage assessment process with real time information back to the EOC almost immediately after the disaster, and with fewer people committed to the field,” said Emergency Management Director Steve Bailey, “It is a faster and more cost effective way to assess damages to buildings, vehicles and critical infrastructure, and moves us more quickly into recovery.”

The two departments developed the application shortly after the County started implementing the use of iPad technology.

The IAEM-USA and the IAEM-Global Technology & Innovation Awards recognize the development of technology and innovation to improve emergency management operations, public education, or the emergency management/homeland security field. The awards will be presented at the annual IAEM conference in Orlando, FL at the end of October.