Mount Archer Bushfire, Queensland, 2010. Image credit: Chris Ison (CC BY 2.0)

Every year Red Cross Australia responds to emergencies and provides humanitarian assistance, whilst also assisting Australians prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.  New Red Cross Australia has recognised the value in bolstering its mapping efforts to support their emergency response initiatives.

The National Office of Red Cross Australia are requesting people to fulfil the roles of GIS & Mapping Officers as Red Cross volunteers. Red Cross is seeking at least two people in each state to come on board, expect for Tasmania where there are already sufficient mapping staff. Ideally each applicant will have at least five years GIS experience.

During an emergency, Red Cross volunteers and staff work alongside police, fire and other emergency services, government and community partners to help ensure people who have been affected are treated with dignity and that their basic human needs are met.

Until 2012 Red Cross Australia did not have GIS & Mapping Officers on its list of roles within the Incident Management Team structure.  For the last two and a half years the team living in Hobart have been providing mapping support for emergency activities across all of QLD, NSW, VIC and SA.

The appalicatants will be required to complete a police check, child safe screening and completion of a number of mandatory online training modules which cover Red Cross Induction and Emergency Services training.

Red Cross Australia are currently using QGIS open source software, which can be downloaded free of charge. Field data collection is made via the Fulcrum App and the role requires the ability to accurately interpret, plot and analyse data from a variety of sources and then present the results of analysis in a clear and comprehensible form that meet established procedures and specifications.

If you are interested please contact Dawn Hendrick (Dawn_Hendrick@hotmail.com).