Abstract: Information delivery and sharing are vital for survival during and following a disaster. Information and communication technology (ICT) is supposed to support these processes effectively. To promote information delivery and sharing, the primary actors in charge of conducting a disaster relief operation at all levels of government have invested in developing a supposedly disaster-proof communication channel to be used exclusively when catastrophes hit. In 2011, the biggest earthquake on record hit Japan. ICT services were suspended because of a huge tsunami. This made it impossible for officials to respond as per the existing disaster management plan. The plan turned out not to be useful in response to such an unexpected event. This paper shows how municipal governments responded to the disaster and leads us to propose that unpredictable, large-scale disasters need communication systems that are founded in familiar contexts rather than technological complexity.

Abstract: One of the most important components of recovery and speedy response during and immediately after an earthquake disaster is a communication and tracking which possibly capable of discovering affected peoples and connects them with their families, friends, and communities with first responders and/or to support computational systems. With the capabilities of current mobile technologies, we believed that it can be a smart earthquake disaster tools aid to help people in this situation. Ontologies are becoming crucial parts to facilitate an effective communication and coordination across different parties and domains in providing assistance during earthquake disasters, especially where affected locations are remote, affected population is large and centralized coordination is poor. Several existing competing methodologies give guidelines as how ontology may be built, there are no single right ways of building an ontology and no standard of Disaster Relief Ontology exist, although separated related ontologies may be combined to create an initial version. This article discusses the on-going development of an ontology for a Communication and Tracking System (CTS), based on existing related ontologies, that is aimed to be used by mobile phone applications to support earthquake disaster relief at the real-time.

Abstract: This paper presents the design of a decision support tool for crisis response applications. We propose a system to replace emergency contact calling trees with a multi-modal personnel contact architecture. This architecture consists of a centralized notification framework using existing enterprise e-mail, Web site, instant messaging, and voice over IP (VOIP) infrastructure. Response and audit data is collected and stored for analysis, and can be reviewed using a variety of methods in real time. Details of our prototype implementation are discussed. Specifically, we address multi-modal communication techniques and their benefits, enterprise deployment challenges, and opportunities for further research.

Abstract: Crisis management systems play a critical role in supporting responders and decision makers in their crisis and emergency management functions. Even though these systems and solutions have been broadly adopted in private and public organizations, very few quantitative studies can be found on their functions, user groups, targeted stakeholders, their technological requirements and their scope of services. The present study gives an outline of our ongoing project and an insight in the first results of a three-year study of crisis management systems in Germany. The study will outline the methods of our analysis and will present some results from an analysis of over more than 170 systems from over 70 vendor/developers. It will then give a conclusion of the results and outline open and future questions. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Disaster response operations exceed the capacities of each single organization
Disaster response operations exceed the capacities of each single organization and thus require cooperation by at least two, often up to some hundred agencies who do seldom interact in their daily operations. The result is a complex problem of cognition, coordination, command and control. This paper presents a review of empirical studies on multi-agency coordination in disaster response operations in order to initiate and facilitate cross-case learning. The review covers 72 empirical studies and highlights the importance of themes such as plans and plan enactment, leadership or personal acquaintance of actors in emergent multi-agency response networks. The analysis also shows that while some themes received extensive coverage in scholarly publications (e.g. training, skills), various important topics have not been studied in sufficient depth (e.g. development of common operational pictures, plan enactment). Based on these insights, the review develops a research agenda and derives various recommendations for practical disaster response management.

Abstract: The current humanitarian system is based on institutions created during the Industrial Age. It was built when connectivity was a very scarce resource and information sharing was something that only happened during meetings. The increased resiliency of mobile communication networks and the proliferation of satellite based network connectivity have lead to information being much easier to share. At the same time the rise of social networks and the explosive growth of mobile ownership amongst the affected communities has lead to a new way of communicating. Furthermore the large institutional humanitarian response organizations are no longer the only responders, with multiple smaller organizations responding. This paper looks at the opportunities new technologies have provided in rethinking the humanitarian response system and how new approaches may address some of the key issues faced in large-scale disasters in recent years. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: As the deployment of situational awareness mechanisms such as geothermal sensors, use of social network sites, and information and communication technologies (e.g., cell phones) become increasingly widespread to emergency responders, the problem of alert analysis has become very important. Broadcast of large amounts of alerts sent back to command centers for processing may impair the ability of analysts to connect dots that may otherwise adequately enable them to make informed decisions in a timely fashion. This paper investigates trends and patterns embedded in alert notifications generated over a given period of time in order to uncover correlations that may exist in the data. Data for this study are obtained from the National Center for Crisis and Continuity Coordination (NC4). We employ classical time series analysis to understand, explain and predict trends and patterns in the data. This work presents results obtained thus far in the quest for the effect of passage of time on alert patterns. Implications of this work in practice and research are discussed.

Abstract: Dynamic Team Management for Cross-organization Collaboration was developed by IBM, in cooperation with the U. S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and MITRE (a federally funded research and development organization), to support participating organizations in the U.S. Homeland Security/Homeland Defense Command and Control Advance Concept Technology Demonstration (HLS/D C2 ACTD). Dynamic Team Management includes finding and accessing information about resources (people) with whom you need to communicate and collaborate on a mission or task. Used in conjunction with collaboration tools and other applications, DTM supports constructing cross-organization teams of individuals to address particular missions or tasks, based on emerging needs. DTM demonstrates approaches to overcoming many of the challenges of building the best teams for each mission/task, accommodating information sharing preferences of participating organizations, directory integration automation, dynamically scaling to meet cross-organization communication and collaboration requirements, and achieving organizational interoperability.

Abstract: In 2022, the global Emergency Event Database EM-DAT documented 387 occurrences of natural hazards and disasters, leading to the death of 30,704 individuals and impacting the lives of 185 million people. Crisis communication technology can help to support this scenario, providing appropriate support and efficient response to the affected Community. The communication between response actors, composed of professionals from operational centers, citizens, and affected communities should flow collaboratively. The population in the surrounding area where the event is provoked should be notified or may provide information for the response actors by means of some platform for crisis communication and anagement. Collaborative platforms for crisis communication are a research topic that is still under investigation. It is known that nowadays there are difficulties related to establishing effective crisis communication. The problems are related to delays in responses, conflicting information, diverse public opinion, bad resource allocation, and geographical mapping issues. In this scenario, a collaborative platform could be used as a model to serve as communication support. Collaborative computing, cooperation, location-based, disaster response, blockchain, and trust are the most related subjects to this area and represent an open field for future research. In this way, we started to research crowdfunding platform as a solution that can englobe all these features. About crowdfunding supported by govern, the research Lee et al. 2016 shows that: crowdfunding can offer an efficient mechanism to improve participatory budgeting and facilitate private–public collaboration while providing a high level of transparency in the budget decision process. Besides, the platform could allow the involvement of the population, for example in providing survival resources such as food, water, and medicines for disaster victims, medical assistance, and other critical services. For example, during a pandemic scenario, crowdfunding platforms assisted in augmenting traditional relief efforts. Besides, it is important to know insights into the needs of those affected communities Saleh et al. 2021. Crowdfunding platforms indicate to the governmental institutions which communities are affected and where the available funds can be directed. This Phd research proposal aims: • To study the factors that influence the success of the crowdfunding approach by applying techniques of sentiment analysis, geographical mapping, and duration of the campaign and collected amount. • To conduct a systematic review of guidelines for how to use crowdfunding to mobilize resources and support for the response effort. • To develop a case study of crowdfunding in the Brazilian context, compared with other scenarios, and how government can use crowdfunding to map and support the flood incidents in the Brazilian Northeast area. develop a model based on crowdfunding aiming to improve collaboration between response actors and citizens. Crowdfunding platforms show the progress of a campaign, helping to improve the transparency and accountability in the response effort. By making progress of the outcomes of the response effort visible to the public. Crowdfunding campaigns can serve as a community engagement and participation in the response effort. By involving the citizens in the response effort, government helps to build a sense of ownership and responsibility among the community.

Abstract: Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks maintain information in the routing table about reachable nodes. In emergency and rescue operations, human groups play an important role. This is visible at the network level as independent network partitions which are for some time stable before their members change through merging or partitioning. We use the information from stable routing tables to optimize the synchronization of Mediators in a Distributed Event Notification System. In a stable partition each node has the same information, thus a single Mediator can efficiently coordinate the synchronization, while all other Mediators just receive updates. We show in our experiments that just a few seconds are needed until routing tables stabilize and all nodes have a common view of the partition. We present a heuristic to determine the proper time to synchronize. Furthermore, we show how exceptions, like disappearing coordinating Mediators and unexpected messages, can be efficiently handled.

Abstract: Digital technologies have become an integral enabler of communication during various phases of emergency management (EM). A crucial prerequisite of effective communication between authorities and the public during EM is the establishment of adequate mutual trust. Trust, however, is an elusive concept which is not easily translatable into technical settings. In this paper we propose an integrative model of trust in digital communication and show how such model can be advantageous in assessing and improving trust relations in context of EM. Our interdisciplinary model, which is based on findings from psychology, sociology and computer sciences provides an abstraction which not only seizes both subjective and objective as well as personal and non-personal, \eg institutional or cultural, aspects of trust but at the same time is concrete enough to be applicable to real-life scenarios.

Abstract: In disasters, several national, international, and non-governmental organisations such as police, health, ambulance, fire and civil defence services are usually involved in the response process. Therefore, it is crucial that responding agencies communicate effectively to avoid fragmentation and duplication in services, to harmonise separate activities, and to clarify roles and responsibilities. Central to communication is information exchange. Effective information exchange enhances not only the appropriateness and success of disaster response, it also ensures timeliness. However, cross-agency communication is extremely challenging especially at times when there are high stress levels, incomplete data, and minimum time to make critical decisions. This paper attempts to specify a 'best-practice' model for cross-agency communication built around the specific information requirements of disaster management and disaster medicine agencies, with the aim of improving the overall quality of healthcare services provided to disaster victims.

Abstract: Crisis management requires stakeholders to not only show strategic, organisational preparedness for crisis events (e.g. by systematising and professionalizing coping work), but also to develop skills to deal with unanticipated events and other stakeholders involved in the same crisis. They should not only rely on established information flows and behaviour patterns, but should be able to deal with situational aspects. This usually involves communication work within and between organisations involved in crisis management. We describe the practice of the crisis communication training of a German electricity provider and the prototype we developed, implemented and evaluated. The collaborative training tool targets not only the local practice, but aims at inter-organisational trainings that would also allow improving the mutual understanding for communication practices and information needs of other stakeholders.