Use Damage Assessment—ArcGIS Solutions

The Damage Assessment solution delivers a set of capabilities that help you collect damage reports, assign initial damage assessments, monitor the impact of a disaster on the community, brief internal stakeholders, and share information with the public.

In this topic, you’ll learn how to use the solution by assuming the role of a user and performing the workflows below.

Note:

Use your organization's data or configured apps to follow these workflows.

Initial damage assessment process

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has two programs that provide assistance when a natural disaster or catastrophic event occurs. These programs are referred to as Individual Assistance and Public Assistance. The Damage Assessment solution supports both programs.

Information collected during the initial damage assessment is provided to state and federal authorities to conduct the Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments. This information can be collected early in the process and shared with partner agencies, saving time and helping to prioritize recovery activities.

Many incidents don’t result in a state or federal declaration but still require some degree of assistance. The Damage Assessment solution can be used for either declared or non-declared disasters. This process includes collecting damage reports, managing damage reports, and monitoring and sharing damage reports with other authorized agencies.

As damage reports are collected, some of the information can be shared with the public to keep them informed of the recovery activities.

Understand community impact

During an emergency, it’s important for residents in the community to learn how the community has been impacted and how the recovery activities may affect them. The Damage Assessment site can be used by emergency management agencies to share damage assessment information with those who have been impacted.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a resident in the community who wants to learn more about the impact of the incident on the community and submit a damage report.

Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Damage Assessment site.
From the item page, click View.
Review the number of damage assessments completed, number of properties destroyed, and number that have major damage.
Scroll to the Damage Reports section.
Click the Review conditions button to open the Damage Assessment Photo Viewer app.

The Damage Assessment Photo Viewer app opens with information about damage assessment photos in the community.
Click Explore Damage Photos.
In the left pane, click a photo.

Note:

By default, public report photos submitted by the public do not appear in the Damage Assessment Photo Viewer, only photos collected internally. See the Manage damage reports section where the Public View attribute can be set to Yes to show public facing photos.

Click Zoom To.
At the top left of the pane, click View in full screen.
When you are finished reviewing the full extent of the photo, click Exit full screen in the top right corner of the photo.
Click the Back arrow to review more damage report photos.
Use the Zoom in and Zoom out controls to navigate the map.

Note:

You can share the Damage Assessment Photo Viewer by clicking the Share button in the top right corner of the app.
Close the Damage Assessment Photo Viewer application when you are done reviewing.
Scroll down the page to review the Report Damage, Frequently Asked Questions, and Cleanup Events sections and to learn more about how the community is responding to the disaster.

Submit public damage report

Immediately after the emergency response and rescue operations are completed, initial damage assessments can be submitted to determine the impact of the incident. The Damage Assessment solution allows residents of a community to submit public damage reports using an ArcGIS Survey123 form available on an emergency management site that is hosted by the local jurisdiction.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a resident in the community who needs to submit a damage report on residential property.

Tip:

In some situations, it may not be appropriate to collect damage reports from the public. Therefore, you may choose to skip this workflow and move to the Submit Windshield Damage Reports section if you have chosen not to use the Public Damage Reports.

In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment site.
From the item page, click View.
Scroll to the Report Damage section and click the Report damage button.

The Public Damage Report survey form is opened in the browser.
For Incident ID or Name, click the drop-down and select an incident.

Note:

Review Configure Damage Assessment for more information populating the incident list. If you have not completed this step, the survey will display a default list of choices.

For Property Type, click a type.
For Property Location enter an address; alternatively, click on the map.
For Consent, choose Yes.
For Contact Information type your name, phone number and optionally, email.
Click Next.
For What event type caused the damage?, check the box next to an event.
For Damage Extent, Additional Context, Curbside Image, and Close-Up Image, attach a photo as needed.
For CAPTCHA, type the characters shown in the image.
Click the Submit.

Manage damage reports

The Damage Assessment Operations app can be used by emergency management staff to manage, monitor, and share damage information.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a damage assessment coordinator in the emergency management agency who needs to review, update, and assign damage reports to be assessed. If public reports or windshield surveys are submitted, they need to be assigned to field personnel to do a complete Individual Assistance Survey assessment.

Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Manage tab to review the number of submitted reports, assigned reports, and completed reports.
Click the Manage tab drop-down arrow and click Manage Damage Reports.
On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Legend to see the status of various submissions.
On the editing toolbar, click Rectangle select (options for Rectangle, Polygon or Lasso).
Select an Individual Assistance Assignments feature on the map that is Submitted (red color).
On the editing toolbar, click Attributes .
For Report Status, click the drop-down arrow and choose Assigned.
For Assigned To type a username into the text box or choose from the drop-down.

Note:

The username must be a valid username in your ArcGIS organization.
For Coordinator Comments, type concerns or instructions into the text box.
If necessary, change the status of the Public View field. Values set to No will not appear in the Damage Assessment Photo Viewer. Values with no value or Yes will appear in the Damage Assessment Photo Viewer.
If necessary, move the Individual Assistance Assignment, such as a building to the correct location using the Move tool on the editing toolbar.

Note:

When you zoom in to street level, change the basemap to Imagery, by clicking Basemaps on the Contents (dark) toolbar and choosing Imagery with labels. Use the Imagery basemap to help visualize the building on which the damage report should be placed.
Click Save to update the Individual Assistance assignment location and attributes.

Tip:

The same workflow can be used to review, edit, and assign public assistance damage assignments.

Optionally, on the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers and hover over the US National Grid (USNG) layers and click Visibility to help assign reports by a geographic reference.

Conduct damage assessments

After damage reports have been assigned by the damage assessment coordinator, public safety officials will need to conduct the damage assessments that have been assigned to them. Each mobile worker who has been assigned to conduct an assessment will receive the assignment in their inbox of the survey they are using.

Submit windshield damage reports

Immediately after the disaster, it is important to determine the severity of the impact to the community. In some situations, public safety personnel who are already in the field may be able to provide an initial assessment of damages. Windshield Damage Report is an ArcGIS QuickCapture mobile app that can be used by public safety or volunteers to rapidly capture damage reports while traveling down a road.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a public safety field inspector who needs to submit windshield damage reports.

Download ArcGIS QuickCapture onto your mobile device.
Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Damage Assessment site.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Internal Destination tab.
Scroll to the Windshield Damage Reports section.
Use the camera on your mobile device to scan the Quick Response code (QR code) to open the Windshield Damage Report project.
Scroll to the Damage Categories section and review the images and description for each damage level.

Note:

More information on the degree of damage descriptions can be found in the appendix of the FEMA Preliminary Damage Assessment Guide.
In ArcGIS QuickCapture, tap one of the damage levels in the Individual Assistance group.
Take a picture tap the check box.
Type a comment in the Comments text box and tap Done.
Repeat the steps above for one of the Public Assistance damage categories.
The Windshield Reports are added to the list of damage reports.

Note:

When using the Windshield Report, the incident name is not populated. You can open the QuickCapture project and set the default or manually set the incident names after they are collected.

Perform Individual Assistance assessment

The Individual Assistance Survey can be used by public safety personnel to gather details of private property losses and direct assistance to disaster survivors.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a field inspector in the emergency management agency who needs to conduct the damage assessments assigned to you using the Individual Assistance Survey.

Download the Survey123 field app onto your mobile device.
Open Survey123 and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.

To complete the Individual Assistance Survey, go to step 3 or to review damage reports assigned to you go to step 4.

To complete the Individual Assistance Survey, do the following:
1. In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment site.
2. From the item page, click View.
3. Click the Internal Destination tab and scroll to the Individual Assistance Surveys section.
4. Use the camera on your mobile device to scan the QR code to open the Individual Assistance Survey.
  Note:
  If you don't have a QR code assigned to your survey, open the ArcGIS Survey123 field app and in the upper right, tap your avatar and tap Download Surveys to download the survey. Tap the back arrow to return to the survey gallery. Tap Individual Assistance Survey to pen the survey and tap Collect.
  If you don't have a QR code assigned to your survey, open the ArcGIS Survey123 field app and in the upper right, tap your avatar and tap Download Surveys to download the survey. Tap the back arrow to return to the survey gallery. Tap Individual Assistance Survey to open the survey and tap Collect.
  Note:
  The Individual Assistance Survey can only be accessed using the ArcGIS Survey123 field app on your mobile device. Using the form in a browser will not perform needed calculations.
5. Complete the Individual Assistance Survey with as much information as possible.
  Note:
  Required fields are marked with a red asterisk.
6. Tap the check mark in the lower right and tap Send now.
To review damage assessments that are assigned to you, do the following:
1. Tap the Individual Assistance Survey, and the tap Inbox to review which damage reports are assigned to you.
  Note:
  If the survey is open in the collect mode, close the survey and tap Inbox at the bottom. The inbox number indicates how many damage assessments have been assigned to you.
2. Tap a survey.
3. Tap Refresh to update the list of assignments.
4. Tap the nearest assigned damage report.
  Note:
  When a public damage report is opened, some information will be provided, which allows you to accept or change it as needed. When you open a Windshield Damage Report, only the damage level will be provided. You will need to complete the assessment by providing all the necessary details for each location.

Perform Public Assistance Damage Inventory

The Public Assistance Damage Inventory survey can be used to quickly capture basic information about damage to public-owned properties such as schools, bridges, water treatment plants and other facilities before a full Public Assistance Survey on the damage is conducted and associated costs are completed.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a field inspector in the emergency management agency who needs to conduct the damage assessments assigned to you for to conduct initial damage assessments for public-owned properties using the Public Assistance Damage Inventory.

Open Survey123 and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment site.
From the item page, click View.
Click the Internal Destination tab and scroll to the Public Assistance Surveys section.
Use the camera on your mobile device and capture the QR code to open the Public Assistance Damage Inventory survey.

Note:

If you don't have a QR code assigned to your survey, open the ArcGIS Survey123 field app and in the upper right, tap your avatar and tap Download Surveys to download the survey. Tap the back arrow to return to the survey gallery. Tap Public Assistance Damage Inventory to open the survey and tap Collect.

Note:

The Public Assistance Damage Inventory must be used on the ArcGIS Survey123 app on your mobile device. Using the form in a browser will not perform needed calculations.
Tap Collect to collect information for an area of properties.
Complete all the required questions in the survey.
Tap the check mark in the lower right and tap Send now.

Perform Public Assistance Survey

The Public Assistance Survey can be used by public safety personnel to gather details of public-owned properties such as schools, bridges, water treatment plants, and other facilities.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a field inspector in the emergency management agency who needs to conduct the damage assessments assigned to you using the Public Assistance Survey.

Download the Survey123 field app onto your mobile device.
Open Survey123 and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.

To complete the Public Assistance Survey, go to step 3 or to review damage reports assigned to you go to step 4.

To complete the Public Assistance Survey, do the following:
1. In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment site.
2. From the item page, click View.
3. Click the Internal Destination tab and scroll to the Public Assistance Surveys section.
4. Use the camera on your mobile device to scan the QR code to open the Individual Assistance Survey.
  Note:
  If you don't have a QR code assigned to your survey, open the ArcGIS Survey123 field app and in the upper right, tap your avatar and tap Download Surveys to download the survey. Tap the back arrow to return to the survey gallery. Tap Public Assistance Survey to pen the survey and tap Collect.
  If you don't have a QR code assigned to your survey, open the ArcGIS Survey123 field app and in the upper right, tap your avatar and tap Download Surveys to download the survey. Tap the back arrow to return to the survey gallery. Tap Public Assistance Survey to open the survey and tap Collect.
  Note:
  The Public Assistance Survey can only be accessed using the ArcGIS Survey123 field app on your mobile device. Using the form in a browser will not perform needed calculations.
5. Complete the Individual Assistance Survey with as much information as possible.
  Note:
  Required fields are marked with a red asterisk.
6. Tap the check mark in the lower right and tap Send now.
To review public assistance reports that are assigned to you, do the following:
1. Tap the Public Assistance Survey, and the tap Inbox to review which damage reports are assigned to you.
  Note:
  If the survey is open in the collect mode, close the survey and tap Inbox at the bottom. The inbox number indicates how many damage assessments have been assigned to you.
2. Tap a survey.
3. Tap Refresh to update the list of assignments.
4. Tap the nearest assigned damage report.

Monitor damage assessments

When an incident occurs, local governments need to ensure Individual Assistance priorities and Public Assistance needs are effectively captured and communicated to state and federal authorities to help the community recover. Emergency managers can monitor impact to the community as the damage assessments are conducted to determine whether a state or national declaration threshold has been met.

The impact on the community can be measured in the Individual Assistance Dashboard and Public Assistance Dashboard.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of an damage assessment coordinator who needs to review key metrics for both the individual assistance and public assistance damage assessments.

Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Monitor tab to review the number of destroyed and major impacted properties.
Click the Monitor tab drop-down arrow and choose Individual Assistance.

Note:

The percentage indicator in each damage level shows the percent of all damage assessments. The Unknown and Unaffected may be properties that have not been assessed yet.

In the left panel, click the Incident ID or Name drop-down and choose an incident name.
Review the total number of damage reports for the selected incident.
In the map, zoom in to a specific area.
Note:

The damage level indicators at the bottom and Impacted Units list on the right will be updated as you move the map extent.
In the left panel, under Type of Dwelling check the box next to a dwelling type to filter the map.
Under Owner or Renter, choose a category.
Under Insured, choose a category.
Review the total number of damage reports for the selected incident.
In the right panel, click on a damage report in the list.
In the map, click on a report.
In the pop-up, scroll down to review the information gathered for that assessment and review a photo of the damage, if available.
Close the pop-up.
In the left panel, under Report Status, check the check box next to Completed.
Under Public Report, check the check box next to Report Type to determine how many damage reports were submitted by the public.
Continue reviewing the damage assessments by selecting other categories and comparing the results.
In the header, click the Monitor tab drop-down arrow and choose Public Assistance.
In the left panel, click the Incident ID or Name drop-down and choose and incident or name.
In the map, zoom in to a specific area.
In the left panel, under Public Assistance Category, check the check box next to a category.
Review the total damage estimate of damage reports for the selected category.
In the right panel, click a damage report.
Review the information in the pop-up on the selected facility.

Administer damage assessments

Local emergency managers need to be able to manage damage assessments for multiple disasters over time. This can be challenging when the recovery period of those disasters can be a year or more. The Damage Assessment solution provides administrative tools to help you prepare damage assessment for impending incidents and close out damage assessments from past incidents.

Share results

Information that is collected during the initial damage assessment process can be shared with state and federal agencies. This shared damage assessment information can be used as the starting point for the Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) process. Just as the initial damage assessment process is used to identify the damage, the PDA process is used to validate the damage in a request for state or national declaration.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of the damage assessment coordinator who needs to share damage assessments with partner agencies.

In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Administer tab to open the administration tools page.
Under the Share results, click Damage Assessment Results to open the group page.
A group opens with a layer view of the completed damage assessments for both the Individual Assistance and Public Assistance feature layers. These noneditable layer views can be further restricted by limiting the fields you want to display.
On the Overview tab, click Invite members.
Check the check box next to the members that you want to add and click Add members to group.

Manage active incidents

When a disaster happens, it is critical to prepare to conduct the initial damage assessments quickly. The first step in that process is to add an incident name to a list so that all damage reports and assessments can be assigned to the correct incident. You can add the incident name to a CSV file and upload the incident name list at the beginning of each incident. The incident names will then appear in the drop-down list for each survey when they are downloaded or refreshed. This assures that the incident name in damage reports will be easily accessible and consistent for all mobile workers. The incident names list in the dashboards will also be populated as damage assessments are submitted for review.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of the damage assessment coordinator who needs to prepare for the next disaster by updating the list of incident names.

In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Administer tab to open the administration tools page.
Under Manage active incidents, click IncidentNames CSV.
Click Download.
In the Save as dialog box, browse to a folder location or accept the default location. Accept the default name.
Click Save.
Browse to and open the IncidentNames CSV file on your computer.
Add a new incident name in the first field.
Save and close the file.
On the item page, click Update Data.
Follow the steps in the Update data wizard to load your data.
Note:

Mobile workers may need to update their surveys on their mobile devices to see the new incidents.

Note:

The Public Report survey does not read the IncidentNames CSV. You may want to keep a separate list for a more time sensitive reporting time for the public. See the Configure Damage Assessment topic on updating the Public Report.

Provision users

The Damage Assessment Mobile Users group includes all the applications, maps and layers needed to support mobile workflows and the Damage Assessment Operations applications. If you have additional mobile workers or assessment managers that need to access these applications, you can quickly add them to the group.

In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Administer tab to open the administration tools page.
Under Provision users to groups, click Damage Assessment Mobile Users.
On the Overview tab, click Invite members.
Check the check box next to the members that you want to add and click Add members to group.

Generate reports

You may be asked to generate a report summarizing and listing all damage assessments. A simple report can be generated to include all Individual Assistance damage reports.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of the damage assessment coordinator who needs to produce a hard-copy report for decision makers.

In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
In the header, click the Administer tab to open the administration tools page.
Under Generate reports, click data view to generate a report.
In the Report name text box provide a name.
Optionally, click the Format drop-down and choose the format.

Note:

When exporting a report as a Microsoft Word document, a Save as dialog box appears prompting you to save the report on your computer. Browse to a folder location or accept the default location. Provide a name or accept the default name, then click Save.

Click Generate.
Click Download.
Browse to and open the report on your computer.
Note:
The default report is a generalized street sheet style report. These reports are extensible and the template document provided can be modified. For more information, see the Survey123 Report templates documentation.

Archive incidents

The Damage Assessment solution is designed for centralized management of all damages over time. This design allows you to continue to conduct all damage assessments in one layer for the Individual Assistance and another layer for the Public Assistance damage reports. You do not need to deploy the entire solution for each new incident.

When a disaster is over, it is important to close initial damage assessments that are completed. You can archive all completed damage assessments for each incident to a separate layer. This separate incident layer can be used for reviewing past incidents and ensures you are ready to start conducting damage assessments for any new incident. The archived damage assessments for each incident can also be used as a backup in case of data loss.

In addition, you may want to clean up the IndividualAssistance or PublicAssistance layer to only show incidents that are active by deleting damage assessments of past incidents. The Archive Damage Assessments Notebook can be used to archive and copy damage reports to a separate layer.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of the damage assessment coordinator who needs to close an incident by archiving the damage assessment of a specific incident.

Note:

You must be assigned a role of Administrator or custom role which includes the privilege to Create and edit notebooks in order to run an ArcGIS Notebooks and complete the following steps.

In a browser, browse to the Damage Assessment Operations app.
From the item page, click View.
Under Active incident, click Archive Damage Assessment Notebook to open the notebook.
Follow the instructions in the notebook to archive damage assessments for the selected incident.
Close the notebook.

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