ANALYZING FEMA’S COMMUNICATIONS LIFELINES SUBCOMPONENT OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENT PROCESSING TO DETERMINE EFFECTS ON THE COMMERCIAL FOOD DISTRIBUTION SUBCOMPONENT DURING STAFFORD ACT DISASTERS

Abstract

During Stafford Act events, which authorize the President to issue declarations for federal assistance in response to incidents, rapid decision-making using the best available data is crucial. In the ESF #2 (Communications), Emergency Managers rely on VISA’s data to determine the availability of electronic payment processing and assess disruptions related to grocery stores providing food to survivors (Commercial Food Distribution Subcomponent). This project aims to create a template that transforms daily data, received every morning at 10:00 AM, into actionable information. The problem at hand is the need for faster data analysis to generate timely information about disruptions to a lifeline (A lifeline enables the continuous operation of critical government and business functions and is essential to human health and safety or economic security). Currently, manual data analysis is time-consuming and diverts resources from other critical tasks. To address this, we will use ARCGIS and PyCharm to plan to set up the supporting data and Service Area tools to understand the grocery stores available within a 15-minute drive time. Then, we will utilize the Tabulate Intersection (Analysis) tool to determine the population served by grocery stores before and after an incident. This approach reveals one primary result: it assesses the extent of disruption to the electronic payment processes and Commercial Food Distribution lifeline subcomponents using the supplied data. This project aims to improve the efficiency and accuracy of our response during critical events, ensuring better resource allocation and support for affected populations.