Abstract: Taiwan is located in the collision zones between two continental plates collide. From the perspective of plate tectonics, the paleo-tectonic environment of the Taiwan and its surrounding areas are rather complex and active due to the tectonic compression of the Eurasian Plate and Philippine Sea Plate. This has resulted in frequent earthquakes in Taiwan. In addition, the tropical and subtropical climate drives not only weathering and erosion of surface rocks, but also typhoon or monsoon triggered torrential and heavy rains in summer and autumn. For downstream land subsidence areas with poor discharge capacity, it is therefore often to have serious floods and resulted in large-scale disasters that endanger citizens' lives and property. Affected by climate change, high urban density and overexploitation of land resources, Taiwan has a substantial increase in natural disasters over the last couple of years. As the country is confronted by unfavorable environment and climate conditions, how disaster alerts and information are accurately and timely released has become an important topic for facilitating the evacuation of citizens and dispatch of disaster relief personnel. This study has combined the mobile communications technology to enable our government to, with the Cell Broadcast Service (CBS), instantly send messages to all 4G and 3G (WCDMA) mobile users within the coverage of designated base stations and without being affected by the network congestion through independent channels. This will help timely notify citizens to evacuate and reduce casualties.

Abstract: The contemporary world is characterized by several large-scale hazards to human societies and the environments we live in, including the impacts of climate change. This paper outlines theories concerning cognitive psychology and complexity dynamics that help explain the challenges of responding to these hazards and the complex systems which create them. These theories are illustrated with a baseball metaphor, to highlight the need for decision-making strategies which do not rely on comprehensive information where comprehensive information is not available. The importance of tools which can support more efficient uses of limited information is also outlined, as is the way that these tools help combine the computational resources and acquired experience of several minds. Existing research has been used to investigate many of the concepts outlined. However, further research is required to coalesce cognitive theories with complexity theories and the analysis of group-level interactions, towards improving important disaster management decisions.

Abstract: Disasters, when they strike hard, may cause the disruption of many vital services. 'Telecommunications' is being considered one of the vital lifeline services as many disaster relief operations rely on it. Effective communication is dependent on a telecommunication network infrastructure that is working properly. Unfortunately, the infrastructure may be damaged during a disaster causing no-coverage and/or congested network traffic in the disaster-affected areas. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework for building a resilient communication system that not only considers the communications infrastructure but also other driving factors which are necessary for its success. The proposed framework is based on five key pillars, namely: robustness, redundancy, adaptability, agility, and readiness to build capability for developing a resilient communication system. The findings reported in this paper provide some insights into resilient communications that may help network researchers/engineers to contribute further towards developing a robust and resilient communication system capable of coping with disasters.

Abstract: In 2015 Wellington joined the 100 Resilient Cities Organization and began a new chapter in its resilience journey. This journey has seen a strategic focus on the use of data to enable better emergency response and to integrate and inform decision making at all levels. The strategic focus in the resilience strategy of integrating data into governance, adaptation, recovery and community engagement has helped Wellington manage the effects of the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake, lead engagement on sea level rise and integrate resilience building measures into the city's built environment and communities. This strategic intent has driven the renewal of a city data capability to provision the Risk Reduction, Readiness, Response and Recovery of the city.

Abstract: Natural and manmade disasters pose a myriad of challenges, which are more severe for individuals with disabilities. Ordinarily to perform daily activities, the disabled get support from assistive technological devices and services; these are commonly disrupted during and after disasters. A proposed solution to support those with visual impairment is a cost-effective wearable 'Smart Cap'. The Smart Cap provides narratives about the surrounding environment while establishing communication between the user (the visually impaired) and a rich online reservoir of knowledge base system capable of vocalising narratives. As a proof-of-concept, this study is implemented using Raspberry Pi, the Amazon Web Services and a P-Cap fitted with a camera. The aim of this research work is to provide an assistive technology to help the visually impaired navigate their way out of any potentially disastrous situation like other citizens would. The proposed system and its usage in disaster situations is an innovative, cost-effective solution specifically addressing the needs of visually impaired persons.

Abstract: Smart Service Queensland (SSQ) is the 'front door' to the Queensland State Government in Australia, providing services and information for citizens and businesses. Services are delivered through online channels, call centres and face-to-face service centres. Rostering to adequately staff the call centres during business as usual demand is well supported using existing workforce planning tools and content management systems alongside real-time telephonic monitoring. However, during times of large scale emergency events, such as floods and tropical cyclones, effective workforce planning heavily relies upon experienced SSQ personnel constantly monitoring and updating call centre staffing levels leading up to and during the disaster event to ensure customer demands are met. Achieving the right balance of call centre servicing without over provisioning is a challenging task. We present a prototype analytics tool that supports the SSQ Forecast Analyst responsible for workforce planning during disaster events and provides initial results of modelling caller behavior during two recent tropical cyclones. The tool provides a single point of reference to a wide collection of relevant datasets, including population demographics and details of the natural and built environment, data feeds describing the emergency event under investigation, relevant social media posts and call centre operations metrics. The tool is an early proof of concept demonstrator highlighting the utility of data integration, web mapping, real-time event monitoring, and predictive modelling.

Abstract: Following two Major Incident Reviews and a request from WA's governing emergency management body, DFES WA acknowledged that their incident management processes were not supporting seamless communication and collaboration. After identifying their unique needs, DFES implemented two web-enabled platforms: WebEOC, a Crisis Information Management System and Whispir, a multichannel notifications solution. Both systems offer DFES and, in turn, WA communities a level of transparency, collaboration and accuracy not previously available. Recently, six of WA's key government agencies have connected their WebEOC platforms via a single information hub. Through this, they can share and disseminate crucial information within a common operating picture, have complete situational awareness, and rapidly and intelligently prepare for and respond to incidents. WA is the first Australian state to have such a platform implemented and, through these efforts, its agencies are ensuring increased efficiency, collaboration and resiliency for themselves and the wider WA population.

Abstract: ABSTRACT Victorian temperate forests, characterized by variable wildfire response traits, such an analysis is missing hindering fire impact estimation over large areas on operational basis. To close this gap, we have evaluated 10 remotely sensed indices across eight areas affected by wildfires in 1998, 2006, 2007, and 2009 which comprise 13 forest types. The analysis was carried out at forest type level and as a function of the regeneration strategies (seeders, basal and epicormic reporters) and structure (tree height and canopy cover) with the six forest groups. Index performance was evaluated by (i) examining index response across four fire severity levels, (ii) the separability index, and (iii) the optimality values analysis. A ranking scoring system was used to compare the index performance to distinguish among severity classes. Initial results demonstrated that there hasn't been a consistency of the best indices capacity but there a consistently worse index among forest groups.

Abstract: While the development of risk modelling has focussed on improving model accuracy and modeller expertise, less consideration has been given to understanding how risk models are perceived and used by the end-user. In this think-piece, we explore how risk modelling is perceived and used by three different end-user functions for natural hazard risk management in New Zealand local government: policy-making, land-use planning, and emergency management. We find that risk modelling is: valued and used by policy-makers; less valued within land-use planning and not as widely used; and valued within emergency planning but not as widely used. We offer our thoughts as to why this is the case with reference to focus groups and qualitative interviews held with local government natural hazard risk end-users across the Wellington, Hawke's Bay and Gisborne regions of New Zealand. We conclude with recommendations for how risk modelling can be further developed to increase community resilience.

Abstract: Emergency management organisations across the world routinely use social media to reach out populations for preparedness and response to extreme weather events. In this paper we present a preliminary analysis of social media strategies towards vulnerable populations in the State of Victoria (Australia). Using the notion of vulnerability in an emergency management context (e.g. older persons, socially/geographically isolated persons, people with disabilities, refugee/recent migrant communities) we explore whether and how organisations address vulnerable groups with targeted messages. Our initial findings suggest that organisations do not tend to interact directly with these groups. Rather, reliance on 'information brokers' (intermediary organisations and individuals with an expected duty of care) seems to be a preferred strategy.

Abstract: Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has been widely used for mapping terrain and monitoring ground deformation. For example, the advanced time series InSAR (TS-InSAR) technique has been increasingly used to measure mm-level urban deformation. Subsidence from underground tunnel excavation has been known for more than a decade in Guangzhou and Foshan in Southern China, but past studies have only monitored the subsidence patterns as far as 2011 using InSAR. In this study, the deformation occurring during the most recent time-period between 2011 and 2017 has been measured using COSMO-SkyMed (CSK). We found that significant surface displacement rates occurred in the study area varying from -35 mm/year to 10 mm/year. A comparison between temporal and spatial patterns of deformations from our TS-InSAR measurements and different land use types in Guangzhou shows that there is no clear relationship between them. A detailed analysis on the sinkhole collapsed in early 2018 has been conducted, suggesting that surface loading may be a controlling factor of the subsidence, especially along the road and highway. Continuous monitoring of the deforming areas is important in order to minimise the risk of land subsidence and prevention of disasters.

Abstract: In this paper, utilising the core Project AF8 Alpine Fault earthquake scenario, we detail hazard exposure, impacts, and recovery of interdependent critical infrastructure networks across the energy, transportation, water & waste, and telecommunications sectors across the South Island of New Zealand. Asset failures are simulated across each individual network, based on shaking intensities, exposure to co-seismic hazards and estimated component fragilities, which have been further refined and validated through expert elicitation. Network disruptions are then propagated across an interdependent network framework to quantify and delineate the spatial reach of both direct and indirect failures. By incorporating recovery strategies, temporal changes in service levels are quantified to offer insights into expected interdependent network performance and the possible disconnection of communities from the nationally connected networks, otherwise not apparent when studying each infrastructure in isolation.