Challenges in information systems for disaster recovery and response (original) (raw)

A networking solution for disaster management to address liaison failures in emergency response

Risk Analysis IX, 2014

Huge loss of life and property takes place during disasters due to lack of organization, coordination and effective communications in disaster response. To address these issues an automated IT based networking solution named e-ICS has been proposed in this paper. The need and the utility of such a system has also been highlighted through case studies of the Bhuj earthquake 2001 and the Mumbai attacks of 26/11, 2008; and a pilot study during the anti-ragging mock drill. The paper also introduces the innovative Confirmation Net for authentication of information and reports during an emergency situation.

Design challenges for an integrated disaster management communication and information system

… Workshop on Disaster …, 2002

Disaster response and recovery efforts require timely interaction and coordination of public emergency services in order to save lives and property. Today, IT is used in this field only to a limited extent, but there is a tremendous potential for increasing efficiency and effectiveness in coping with a disaster. In this paper we sketch requirements and innovative technology for an integrated disaster management communication and information system, addressing in particular network, configuration, scheduling and data management issues during the response and recovery phases.

Position paper: Design concept of ad-hoc Information Network System for disaster mitigation

2013 19th Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC), 2013

We have gone through national crises caused by earthquakes and tsunamis. Through these experiences we have established advanced communication systems and advanced disaster medical response systems. However, Japan was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11 th , 2011. Huge tsunamis swept a vast area of Tohoku causing a complete breakdown of all the infrastructures including telecommunications. Communication of emergency information was limited causing a serious delay in the initial rescue and medical operation. For the emergency rescue and medical operations, it is the most important to identify the number of casualties, their locations and states and to dispatch doctors and rescue workers from multiple organizations. In the case of the Tohoku earthquake, the dispatching mechanism and/or decision support system did not exist to allocate appropriate number of doctors and locate disaster victims. Even though the doctors and rescue workers from multiple government organizations have their own dedicated communication system, the systems are not interoperable. In the area of the disaster management, introduction of cutting edge ICT is urgently needed. In this paper, we propose a design concept of Emergency Temporal Information Network System designed in a system of systems in Acute Stage of Large-scale Disasters Damage Mitigation.

Web and mobile emergencies network to real-time information and geodata management

VALgEO2011 Workshop Proceedings, 2011

Major and minor disasters are part of our environment. The challenge we all have to face is to switch from relief to preparedness. Recent events from Haiti to Japan revealed a new scenario: web and mobile technologies can play a crucial role to manage the disasters, increasing and improving the information flow between the different actors and playerscitizens, civil protection bodies, local and central governments, volunteers, media. In this perspective, "the post-Gutemberg revolution" is changing our communication framework and practices. Mobile devices and advanced web data management may ameliorate preparedness and boost crises response in the shadow of natural and man-made disasters, and are defining new approaches and operational models. Key words are: crowdsourcing, geolocation, geomapping. A full integration of web and mobile solutions allows geopositioning and geolocalization, video and photo sharing, voice and data communications, and guarantees accessibility anytime and anywhere. This can also give the direct push to set up an effective operational dual side system to "inform, monitor and control". Starting from the international experiences, Open Resilience Network and Italian Firefighters have carried out tabletop and full scale exercises to test tools and procedures and experiment the use of new technologies to better manage information flow from/to different actors. The paper will focus the ongoing experimental work on missing person emergency, leaded by Italian Firefighters TAS team-Andrea Di Lolli and Davide Lombardoand supported by a multi-competences team from Open Resilience Network and University of Turin-Elena Rapisardi and Massimo Lanfranco. The aim of the paper is to share methods and technologies used, and to show the operational results of the exercise carried out during PROTEC2011, in order to stimulate comments that will be taken into account in the further research steps.

iSurvival: A Collaborative Mobile Network System for Disaster Management

2012

When disaster strikes, optimal access to real-time information of the disaster situation during 'blind time'-the time prior to the arrival of the first responders-and during response and recovery stages is essential to improve the effectiveness of the first responders and recovery. This paper describes a disaster management system, iSurvival, which uses specialist applications on the smart phones of those affected by disaster and wireless devices of first responders, to establish Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN), to facilitate the secure exchange of information in the disaster area, when the normal GSM and 3G telephone networks are compromised or unavailable. This information is further communicated with central control centre for analysis and resource scheduling for effective mobilisation of emergency services which are involved in rescue and recovery. The research, currently under the analysis and design stage, has been awarded a 'Special Mention' from Nokia for Ideas for Development Challenge 2012.

The ADAMO project: Architecture to support communication for emergency services

2010

When emergency services are in a crisis situation, one of their major needs is to have efficient communication. Every person involved needs to have the most up-to-date and relevant information at all times and needs to be able to communicate with his colleagues effectively. In order to support this, it is important that the network used by the emergency services supports all necessary communication flows to make this communication as smooth as possible. In this paper, we will describe the end-to-end system architecture we developed and implemented in the IBBT 1 project ADAMO -Advanced Disaster Architecture with Mobility Optimizations.

Telematic system for supervision and support of tactical staff involved in disaster response

Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences (PEN), 2020

This paper describe the design and implementation of a Telematic System that aims to supervision and support tactical staff involved in disaster response operations. Each tactical group member carries a programmable electronic module that allows obtaining information about the state of the environment (temperature, humidity, hot spots, air quality, etc.) and itself (position, emergency signal, heart rate, etc.). The information collected is sent to a data server through a wireless network based on LoraWAN technology, where it is stored and processed to obtain different types of reports that allow to plan the response operations and make decisions according to reality. To test the system functionality, a prototype was implemented based on the architecture described in this paper. The results were satisfactory, obtaining effective, permanent and real-time communication between tactical staff within the disaster-affected area and strategic staff responsible for decision-making outside ...

Mobile for emergencies M4EM: a cooperative software tool for emergency management operations

Procedia Computer Science, 2018

In serious emergencies, as in the case of floods and extreme weather conditions, where a substantial number of people are involved and over vast areas which may also involve different provinces, currently civil protection planning carries on emergency management operations within rigid schemes. A procedure that would be capable of handling events acquiring data continuously and developing real time solutions in a highly flexible manner has not yet been proposed. This research focuses on how the systematization of information systems and communication processes can improve the management of emergencies caused by extreme weather and climate events. The objectives of improved service, levels of safety and sustainability of the intervention in emergencies would be obtained through a centralized decision support system. The system and tools that are presented in this paper aim to respond to emergency issues dynamically responding to the dynamics of the events by taking advantage of an information system capable of sharing data, notifications, service orders, appeals for help, information on the status of the transport network and any other information. The system would provide decision support by acquiring information from smartphones and other nomadic devices; it would so provide exchange of information in real time on one or more virtual platforms among stakeholders and between them and the citizens. Substantially, the system is based on smartphone applications coupled with a central management emergency Decision Support System specifically built to make best use of the possibilities offered by the latest telematics systems and cooperative web and phone-based tools.

Research on Disaster Communications

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2019

From our experience the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 to help out the people in the affected area in terms of IT support such as internetworking and providing PCs, we came across an interesting issue concerning collaboration with people including supporters as well as the victims. We call this problem disaster communications. We also came to know the needs for disaster information processing as there was no such systems to manage shelters, goods distribution and volunteers. On the other hand such systems have been researched in the United States of America and Europe in terms of information processing for emergency management to a great extent. While we have had many natural disasters in Japan, only a very few of the researchers in computer science and information systems have been working on this issue. From this perspective, we try to identify the information required at disaster in this research. In particular, we explored the needs and seeds for disaster information processing in Iwate, Japan. We interviewed some supporters at Iwate in March 2011 such as local government officials, doctors and university administrators and found the situation awareness was required desperately in the beginning of the disaster. This paper reports our project of interviewing people who worked on disaster relief during the emergency response as well as our trial of a system for situation awareness based on the results from our interviews.

Rapid information flow within a crisis management system

2007

The concept for an operational service for natural disaster situations requires a scenario driven data access to different sensor information for all phases of a disaster situation. This includes also the actual availability of image information of the earth surface concerning the specific requirements of the phases. Space borne data acquisition does not offer a sufficient data availability from a temporal point of view in order to support all different phases in specific crisis situations. Especially the event phase of a disaster situation cannot be supported as required.