We help prevent hazards from becoming disasters and disasters from becoming catastrophes.
For more than 20 years, Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) has supported the most demanding government customers and nonprofits worldwide, sharing in the mission to save lives and reduce disaster risk. As an applied research center managed by the University of Hawaii, we are continuously developing new technologies and best practices to help our many global partners effectively mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. We work side by side with government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and humanitarian relief organizations to conduct baseline risk and national disaster preparedness assessments, create mitigation strategies, support training and exercises, and to implement our powerful DisasterAWARE® technology. DisasterAWARE provides global risk intelligence, early warning, and largest collection of global, scientifically verified geospatial data and modeling tools for assessing risk and hazard impacts. Following the devastating effects of Hurricane Iniki to the Hawaiian Islands in 1992, Pacific Disaster Center was conceived as a center to improve systems of communication and technology for disaster prevention at home and beyond. PDC now serves a global audience, helping to increase disaster management capacity and embolden more effective decisions, policies, and actions for a safer world.

Our organization and approach
PDC is an applied research center managed by the University of Hawaii that provides the most reliable information, ground-breaking research, applied scientific practices, and its powerful disaster risk intelligence platform, DisasterAWARE to empower disaster management decision makers and the public. We support disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery worldwide—using strategies that are consistent with the United Nations’ approach to disaster risk reduction.
Mission: Reduce disaster risk. Vision: Safer world.
A brief history of PDC
Our Team
Executive Management
Ray Shirkhodai is responsible for PDC’s strategic development, market and partnership expansion, and all aspects of the enterprise operation. In information management and senior leadership roles since 1991, Shirkhodai first joined PDC in 2002 as the Chief Information Officer (CIO), before his selection for executive director in 2007. During his tenure at PDC, Shirkhodai architected PDC’s flagship DisasterAWARE® risk intelligence platform and mobile apps, developed and oversaw strategies for PDC’s expansion into the global hazard and risk reduction markets, and increased the Center’s competitive project revenues by more than 9-folds, augmenting PDC’s base research and operating budgets. Shirkhodai has led the Center’s support of major international disaster relief operations, at home and abroad. He has served as a chief technology advisor to many regional and national Disaster Management Offices around the world. He has written for numerous United Nations (UN) publications on analytical software design for risk reduction. He has been an invited keynote speaker, lecturer, and participant at many international industry events focused on technologies for risk reduction and resilience. Shirkhodai is on the advisory board of the UH Maui College Applied Business and Information Technology (ABIT) program. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) in 1990, followed by graduate studies in Artificial Intelligence (1993) at GMU.
Ray Shirkhodai
Executive Director
Chris Chiesa has more than 30 years of experience developing and leading enterprise applications of geospatial information technologies and has been actively involved in disaster management activities for the past two decades. He directs international deployments of PDC’s disaster management decision support DisasterAWARE® platform. Chris has extensive programmatic and institutional experience in the Asia Pacific region. His work has also taken him to Europe, Central and South America, and Africa. In 2005, Chris received Esri’s prestigious Special Achievements in GIS Award in recognition of the Center’s support to the Indian Ocean tsunami response. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BSME, MSNR) and the University of Arizona (MBA).
Chris Chiesa
Deputy Executive Director
Dr. Joseph Green is an expert in the practical application of risk information for humanitarian assistance and resilience-building initiatives worldwide. His analytical work spans more than two decades, with specialized focus on the examination of the intersection between social vulnerability, health outcomes, and disaster resilience. Joseph earned his PhD in epidemiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior to earning his PhD, Joseph earned a Master’s degree in medical geography from the University of South Florida and worked as a research fellow at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Joseph Green
Acting Director of Applied Science
For over 20 years, Dr. Erin Hughey has dedicated her academic and professional life’s work to advancing evidence-based practices in the field of disaster management. Leading PDC global efforts, she has developed the foundation for the largest operationalized national and subnational risk and disaster preparedness assessment. The breadth of her career spans hand-on response operations at local, state, federal, and international levels, to the development of regional and global policy focused on disaster risk reduction. Erin received her PhD from the University of South Florida and currently serves on the Board of Directors at Georgetown University in the Disaster and Emergency Management program.
Erin Hughey
Director of Disaster Services
Mateo Manzari has more than two decades of information technology development, oversight and management experience. He has lead development teams working on infrastructure design, cloud computing, security, server and network architecture, and data center management. In addition to the disaster management community, he has worked with mid-sized businesses, educational institutions, and service industries, often as an executive business relationship manager or IT integration specialist. Mateo holds a Master of Business Administration from University of Southern California and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science from Cal State.
Mateo Manzari
Director of Information Technology
Scott Okada is responsible for PDC’s fiscal planning and management in all areas of budgeting, financial analysis, procurement, and business information technology applications. He has experience and training as a financial forecaster, auditor, tax-compliance officer, and report compiler for national and governmental organizations. His experience also includes high-level oversight of human resources management and loss prevention, as well as cash management and cost control functions.
Scott Okada
Director of Finance & Administration
Other Staff
Bear (Bernd) McConnell
Senior Advisor
Steve Recca has held several security policy positions with the State Department, Department of Defense, and in academia. He was Director of the University of Colorado Springs Center for Homeland Security where he managed research programs in civil security, defense-related topics, as well as institutional and government agency collaborative relationships. He is on the Editorial Review Board of four peer-reviewed journals and is a frequent guest lecturer on civil security topics for academic institutions across the United States. Steve holds a Master’s in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Steve Recca
Humanitarian Assistance Programs Senior Advisor
For more than two decades, Tim Manning has worked on both the front lines and in the senior most levels of homeland security, emergency management, and resilience at the state, local, federal, and international levels. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009, Tim served the Barack Obama administration as the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and has served as homeland security advisor, firefighter-EMT in both large urban and wildland interface departments, rescue mountaineer, and geologist. He also currently serves on faculty at Georgetown University in the Disaster and Emergency Management program.
Tim Manning
Senior Advisor
What our partners are saying about us...
Title | Address | Description |
---|---|---|
Kenta Hamasaki | Honolulu, HI, USA | THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF JAPAN, HONOLULU, HI (2016) "Aloha Julie. Hello. After the registration [for DisasterAWARE], I started to receive warnings such as Typhoon Meranti. That data contains necessary info and is so graphic that it's easy to know at a glance how the impact is. This is very important for our duties. Thank you again." |
Paulo Bayly | Fiji | PERMANENT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE & TRANSPORT, FIJI (2016) "Thank you and your team for so quickly responding to our needs." |
Ana Ake | Tonga | MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS, KINGDOM OF TONGA (2017) "I was first introduced to EMOPS (DisasterAWARE)...during a HA/DR training in Auckland this year. I've worked with several tools and it is obvious that EMOPS is the only sustainable tool that is available and is openly available." |
Jonathan Colwell | California, USA | GOESPATIAL COORDINATOR, DHS-FEMA REGION 9 (2016) "EMOPS (DisasterAWARE) made my day so much easier while monitoring [Tropical Cyclone] AMOS. Data that I thought I'd spend a good part of the morning digging for was available, as were the tools to draw polygons and annotate and meet the requirement." |
John Andoe | Texas, USA | EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR, TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (2017) “Keep up the good work. I'm using EMOPS (DisasterAWARE) in Texas to monitor Hurricane Harvey.” |
Matt Lott | Virginia, USA | EMERGENCY COORDINATOR OF SAFETY, SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (2016) "I work for the Virginia DOT as an emergency planner. I would like to be added to your distribution list for awareness products. I followed work during Hurricane Mathew and would like to avail our organization of your great products." |
USDA Foreign Agriculture Service officer | Washington, DC, USA | USDA (2016) "Your suggestion that we look at PDC content and capabilities has really paid off. We partnered with them, and are ingesting their global disaster feeds into [Global Agricultural & Disaster Assessment System] GADAS. The addition of a couple of our own applications to quickly delineate impacted areas and extract agricultural acreage and population has proved quite valuable." |
Christopher Vaughan | 500 C St SW, Washington, DC 20024, USA | FEMA NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION OFFICER (2015) "My sincerest thanks to the PDC team during this event. [Tropical Cyclone Dolphin] Your professionalism and dedication to the mission is to be commended. I'm sure we will have plenty to discuss/improve upon in the weeks to follow. Thanks again for all the support. Great job team." |
Daniel B. Whitley | 1400 Independence Ave SW #5071, Washington, DC 20250, USA | ACTING ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE (2017) "On behalf of USDA's Foreign Agricultural Services, I would like to express my appreciation and full support of the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) for its essential contributions...with data and support...we've been able to improve our global agricultural production and disaster assessment analyses, products, and decision outcomes." |
Jesse Rozelle | 500 C St SW, Washington, DC 20024, USA | PROGRAM MANAGER, NATURAL HAZARDS RISK ASSESSMENT PROGRAM, FEMA (2017) "Aloha PDC team: I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for all of your support during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The modeling and risk assessment support you have provided to FEMA has been incredibly helpful for our response efforts and our emergency management partners. I'm looking forward to a continued partnership." |
Lisa Samson on PDC products during hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria | Miami, FL, USA | ASSISTANT DEPUTY DIRECTOR, EXERCISES & COALITION AFFAIRS, U.S. SOUTHCOM (2017) "[I] wanted to pass along that the reports that PDC is generating are succinct and extremely informative. I've passed along to other colleagues in the HQs staff and other COCOMs to peak their interest. Well done!" |
William I. Clark | 9301 NW 33rd St, Doral, FL 33178, USA | HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE DIVISION CHIEF, U.S. SOUTHCOM (2017) "Our success during response efforts is directly related to PDC's contribution. The set of tools offered by your decision support system (DisasterAWARE), the large amount of data, the modeling and assessments, and skill set of your staff are unique. They provide my team with great situational awareness in a timely manner, enabling rapid and informed decision making in critical periods." |
Brian Abbott | Doral, FL, USA | LIEUTENANT COLONEL, PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERATION PROGRAM COORDINATOR, U.S. SOUTHCOM (2016) "As a Public-Private Cooperation (PPC) Program Coordinator, PDC's vision and leadership translates into strategies that enable others to effectively achieve results." |
Gayle Outten-Moncour | The Bahamas | BAHAMAS DISASTER RECOVERY MANAGER AND FIRST ASSISTANT SECRETARY |
Jeremy K. Delancy | Nassau, The Bahamas | SENIOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF SOCIAL SERVICES & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS (2016) "I wanted [PDC] to know that I used DisasterAWARE during Hurricane Joaquin and it performed admirably. Some further training will be needed for us to use it to its full capabilities. One of the persons who was quite impressed is Chief Meteorological Officer, Mr. Arnold King." |
Carolann Albury | E Bay St, Nassau, The Bahamas | DIRECTOR, BAHAMAS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (2017) "…thank you all for the assistance you have rendered on so many occasions to The BNGISC but more importantly to The Bahamas." |
Marcus Elten | New York, NY, USA | UNITED NATIONS OCHA (2016) "I was impressed with how quickly you guys developed situational awareness products...quite impressed with your team's work." |
Claudia Mateo | Dominican Republic | PRESIDENT, REPUBLICA DOMINCANA COMISIÓN NACIONAL DE ENERGÍA "Thank you for being aware of our situation and for the sending of images for analysis." |
Paul Ugarte | Guatemala | CONRED SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF GUATEMALA |
Eric Yarrell | Comayagua, Honduras | LIEUTENANT COLONEL, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, JTF-BRAVO (2017) "JTF-Bravo sincerely appreciated the HADR decision-support information provided by the Pacific Disaster Center during Hurricane Irma response… has been both timely and valuable support of current operations." |
Augusto Moreno O'Phelan | Peru | DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR POLICY AND STRATEGY, MINISTRY OF DEFENSE, PERU (2016) "Many thanks for your important information about the ongoing outbreak of Zika virus in the Americas." |
Mr. Eliezer Serrano, Jr. | Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | LEAD DATA FUSION MANAGER, U.S. SOUTHCOM JOINT OPERATIONS CENTER (2016) PDC's support in the SOUTHCOM region and its commitment to promote public safety were unfailing during the Rio Olympics. [DisasterAWARE] greatly enhanced our situational awareness and offered an abundance of useful data and safety monitoring information." |
Don Price | Myanmar (Burma) | DISASTER MANAGEMENT ADVISOR, U.S. FOREST SERVICE, MYANMAR (2017) "The big floods in Southern China are causing some real problems for Vietnam and Myanmar and DMRS/EMOPS (DisasterAWARE) is the best visualization for this regional flood situation." |
Susan Cruz | Philippines | DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF CIVIL DEFENSE (2015) "We are very appreciative of your support to our country." |
Giuseppe Timperio | 21 Lower Kent Ridge Rd, Singapore 119077 | RESEARCH ENGINEER, ADVANCED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT & HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (2016) "I knew of 'InAWARE' and I am impressed by its capabilities. Information sharing in the humanitarian context is still a big challenge (especially in ASEAN), and the efforts you are putting to close this gap are highly appreciated, and indeed highly useful for the whole humanitarian community." |
Dr. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho | Matraman, East Jakarta City, Jakarta 13120, Indonesia | HEAD OF DATA, INFORMATION, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR INDONESIA'S NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY, BNPB |
Harlan V. Hale | Banten, Indonesia | REGIONAL ADVISOR, USAID/DCHA/OFDA/EAP "From a disaster management perspective, these agencies [PDC, HOT, PetaBencana.id] have combined their skills, have worked well together, and have created something that is really innovative, useful, and can actually improve both the disaster response by the government and citizen's participation in it as well." |
Willem Rampangilei | Jl. Anyar No.12, RT.2/RW.1, Leuwinutug, Kec. Citeureup, Bogor, Jawa Barat 16810, Indonesia | CHIEF, BNPB "As I mentioned when we met recently at BNPB HQ Jakarta, I want to extend my appreciation to you, to your colleagues at PDC, and to USAID/OFDA for your hard work and dedication – and for your tangible results – in building capabilities and capacities for disaster risk reduction in Indonesia, especially in the area of hazard monitoring and early warning." |
Dr. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho | West Java, Indonesia | HEAD OF DATA, INFORMATION, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS, BNPB (2017) "Thank you very much for your support in Mt Agung eruption. Very useful to us." |
Captain Stephen M. Russell | Hay St, Nassau, The Bahamas | Director, National Emergency Management Agency, The Bahamas (2019) PDC's advanced modeling capabilities and mapped products helped accurately anticipate the nature and extent of impacts from Dorian so that we could protect the most at-risk communities and coordinate life-saving humanitarian relief. These products were used daily in planning and public outreach, and in briefing national officials, including the Prime Minister, to prepare effectively. In addition, PDC team members gathered, analyzed, and disseminated critical information that helped organize crucial emergency support functions with the responsibility for evacuation |
John Marinos | Bangkok, Thailand | Regional Information Management Officer I was specifically asked to pass on to you how everyone was impressed and grateful for the JADE for the Afghanistan scenario. It was exactly what they needed to begin discussions on contingency planning and all that. It of course paves the way for when we need to do one there for real. |
Kevin Miller | Sacramento, CA, USA | Earthquake & Tsunami Program Manager |
John Marinos | Geneva, Switzerland | UNOCHA Information Specialist, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific PDC–United Nations OCHA collaborate on advanced data and science to support humanitarian assistance |
Jenifer E. Smoak | Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Senior Director, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, United States Department of Defense (2019) There is no doubt that we would have been unable to conduct the 2019 COMMEX and STAFFEX |
Scott Griffin | Camp H. M. Smith, Halawa, HI 96701, USA | Deputy, C4 Engagements and Interoperablity, J65 U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (2019) I am writing on behalf of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's Multinational Communications Interoperability Program (MCIP) to express our gratitude for the support your organization has provided in building and executing exercises, briefs to senior personnel, and training on DisasterAWARE. PDC's exceptional contributions led the effort to build a meaningful scenario and was the basis on which a very successful PACIFIC ENDEAVOR 2019 (PE19) was completed. |