Overview#
A coast guard coordination centre in an island nation receives simultaneous reports: a MAYDAY from a fishing vessel 40 nautical miles offshore, a tsunami advisory from PTWC affecting the northern coastline, and a cruise ship reporting a passenger medical emergency in the main harbour. Each event involves different resources, different response protocols, and coordination with different island authorities. The Island PSAP domain gives the coordination centre a single operational picture across all three: vessel tracking through AIS, evacuation zone management for the tsunami response, cruise ship contact details for the medical emergency, and resource assignment across coast guard vessels, helicopters, and shore teams.
Island nations face emergency management challenges that mainland systems do not anticipate: inter-island coordination across maritime gaps, dependence on coast guard and marine rescue as first responders, and the unique risks of cruise ship emergencies where passenger counts can exceed the population of the nearest port. This domain was built specifically for those conditions.
Key Features#
- Tsunami alert management with multi-source integration from PTWC, NTWC, JMA, and IOC, with severity tracking
- Maritime vessel emergency response supporting MAYDAY, PAN-PAN, SECURITE, and other distress types
- Coastal resource tracking for coast guard vessels, helicopters, rescue boats, dive teams, and shore stations
- Evacuation zone management with routes, shelter locations, population estimates, and activation status
- Multi-island incident coordination with shared resources and escalation workflows
- Cruise ship contact management with passenger and crew counts and medical and bridge contacts
- Maritime weather condition monitoring with zone-based forecasts and warnings
- Real-time AIS and MMSI vessel tracking integration
- Resource assignment to emergencies with status lifecycle tracking
- Organisation-level multi-tenancy for data isolation between island authorities
Use Cases#
- Coordinating tsunami response across multiple islands simultaneously, activating evacuation zones and tracking population movements toward shelter locations
- Managing maritime search and rescue operations with coast guard resource dispatch and AIS-based vessel tracking for accurate positioning
- Tracking cruise ship emergencies with passenger count awareness for mass casualty resource planning and hospital pre-notification
- Coordinating inter-island resource sharing during major natural disasters where any single island's resources are insufficient
Industry Context#
Pacific island nation PSAPs serve widely dispersed populations where maritime emergency response is as important as land-based response. Caribbean island emergency management agencies coordinate tsunami and hurricane evacuation across multiple island territories with different governance structures. Indian Ocean island states manage search and rescue responsibilities across large maritime zones with limited resources. Cruise line port agents and coast guard authorities jointly manage passenger ship emergencies through shared operational pictures. Military commands in island regions use similar multi-island coordination frameworks for civil support operations during natural disasters.
Integration#
The Island PSAP domain integrates with Investigation for linking vessel emergencies to cases, Alert for automated notification generation, Geographic for map visualisation and geofence monitoring, and Communication for VHF radio and satellite coordination. All records are stored in PostgreSQL with organisation-level multi-tenant isolation.
Open Standards#
- ITU-R M.1371 (AIS) / Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI): Vessel tracking and cruise ship contact records are keyed by MMSI, the nine-digit identifier broadcast under the ITU-R M.1371 Automatic Identification System standard, enabling real-time position correlation for SAR dispatch.
- IMO Vessel Registration (IMO Numbers): The IMO ship identification number is used alongside MMSI for vessel enrichment and registry synchronisation, in accordance with IMO resolution A.1078(28) on vessel identification.
- SOLAS Chapter IV / ITU Radio Regulations (GMDSS): Maritime distress classification follows the GMDSS hierarchy defined in SOLAS Chapter IV and the ITU Radio Regulations, with vessel emergency types mapped directly to the MAYDAY, PAN-PAN, and SECURITE urgency categories.
- IAMSAR Manual (IMO/ICAO): Search and rescue coordination, resource assignment workflows, and SAR_OPERATION emergency lifecycle states align with the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual procedures for maritime rescue coordination centres.
- GeoJSON (RFC 7946): Tsunami alert polygons, evacuation zone boundaries, and evacuation route geometries are stored and exchanged as GeoJSON, the IETF-standardised format for geographic features.
- UN/LOCODE (UNECE Recommendation 16): Port of call and home port references for vessels and cruise ships are resolved against the UN Code for Trade and Transport Locations database, maintained quarterly by UNECE.
- GraphQL (June 2018 Specification): All client-facing queries and mutations are exposed through a GraphQL API, enabling typed, introspectable access to tsunami alerts, vessel emergencies, evacuation zones, and coastal resource status.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-05 Last Updated: 2026-04-14