Abstract: Uncertainty and risks are part of humanitarians' daily routine. Most of the time, infrastructures are damaged or non-existent, the political climate is highly volatile, communication means are insufficient, and so on. Therefore, humanitarian organizations often have to find original methods to implement their supply chains. They may also face recurrent problems, that requires them to change the way they operate. And yet, as they lack the time and resources to reflect on the lessons learnt, most of their best practices and issues are neither captured nor communicated. The aim of the study is thus to propose a framework to capitalize humanitarians' knowledge and know-how, to analyze both gaps and best practices and learn from one operation to another. To this end, we propose a framework derived from traditional Enterprise Modelling tools, adapted to fit relief chains' specificities. Field applications are then given to illustrate our approach and its beneficial effects.

Abstract: In an earthquake disaster, having proper estimation about destructed buildings and the degree of destruction, can considerably facilitate decision-making and planning for disaster managers. Using this information, the managers can estimate disaster area and number of victims to determine and allocate required resources. Scientific studies and historical data show that the faults around Tehran, the capital of Iran, are capable to create strong earthquakes which would bring the largest damages in the world history to the city. So it is necessary to be prepared for a rapid and knowledge-based response to such an earthquake. Therefore, development of a knowledge-based model to estimate destruction of buildings is ongoing. The model is going to be developed by using different spatial data obtained from the buildings and its environment in Tehran. This paper outlines the initial results of this research.

Abstract: This research-in-progress examines the roles of technology and human systems in supporting emergency response management through the dual perspectives of knowledge and psychology. Task critical knowledge is linked to organizational effectiveness in delivering business value and psychological factors characterize the unique challenges of an emergency context. This exploratory research is among the first to develop a theoretical model based on these two important yet understudied theoretical aspects. The article contributes to the research development in emergency response information systems and sheds light on the organizational response management practice.

Abstract: Although Y2K was neither an accident nor an unanticipated challenge, the millennium debugging represented a watershed event for crisis response and management, and the range of effects remains relevant in 2004. Not only information systems professionals, but also leaders and professionals in every application area saw computer systems as subsystems of their areas of responsibility and accountability. The acknowledged dependence of government, healthcare, utilities, transportation, services, and communications on reliable information systems widened the circle of stakeholders for crisis prevention, response, and management. Emergency preparedness and broad systems approaches to disaster and contingency planning were enhanced by the ubiquitous multi-year Y2K effort. The author emphasizes the investments, learning, leadership, and commitment in information systems control that occurred as part of the prevention stage of crisis management as a result of Y2K. The simultaneity, high stakes, and ubiquity of the millennium crisis permanently altered the circle of players with vested interests in and responsibility for information systems control. From government agencies to households, users realized that the scope of information systems design and reliability must extend beyond computer engineers and information systems professionals to ensure the general good. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.

Abstract: This paper reports on the initial findings of the first phase of a study funded by San Jose State University, USA to provideinsightregardinghowpubliclibrariescanbe moreinvolvedincommunity-wide disasterplanning,strengtheningtheirroleascoremembersof theircommunities?disasterpreparedness and responseinfrastructure. The first phase of the study involves a nationwide survey of public library directors and library staff who are involved in coordinating disaster planning for their institutions. A survey was carried out during December 2014 and January 2015 to explorewhatpubliclibrariescanbringtocommunity-wideplanningefforts and thetypesofpartnershipsthatarepossible. The findingswillprovidelibraryleaderswithvaluableinsighton how to proactivelyengageindialogueandplanningwiththeirlocalemergencymanagement community. The second phase emerging from the research will involve follow-up in-depth explorations of the exemplary disaster planning models.

Abstract: This paper is about European networked crisis and disaster management and how to achieve more intelligent decision support and better collaboration. Although collaboration processes are established, the underlying information management tools today don?t support integrated electronic information management in multi-organizational scenarios. This leads to a fragmentation of relevant information into pieces held by different stakeholders. Recently, the concept of the Common Information Space has been introduced as possible solution. This paper looks to the domain of Air Traffic Management where a similar problem was tackled by a concept called System Wide Information Management. The paper starts with describing the operational context, the unresolved needs, and the derived requirements. Experiences from the Air Traffic Management domain are gathered and compared with current solution concepts from the public safety domain. The paper concludes with lessons learned during the on-going development in the public safety domain.

Abstract: Collaboration is the foundation to strengthen disaster preparedness and for effective emergency response actions at all levels. Some studies have highlighted that remote volunteers, i.e., volunteers supported by Web 2.0 technologies, possess the potential to strengthen humanitarian relief organizations by offering information regarding disaster-affected people and infrastructure. Although studies have explored various aspects of this topic, none of those provided an overview of the state-of-the-art of researches on the collaboration among humanitarian organizations and communities of remote volunteers. With the aim of overcoming this gap, a systematic literature review was conducted on the existing research works. Therefore, the main contribution of this work lies in examining the state of research in this field and in identifying potential research gaps. The results show that most of the research works addresses the general domain of disaster management, whereas only few of them address the domain of humanitarian logistics.

Abstract: Based on interviews with European crisis managers and other stakeholders, we identified specific learning requirements regarding psycho-social support in disaster management. This paper describes the process of developing a learning environment specifically for disaster managers with strategic responsibilities. Focusing on competence development, the underlying concept emphasizes peer-like exchanges and self-directed learning rather than passive, externally organized training methods. For that purpose a web-based learning platform is being developed in combination with competence development modules tailored to the needs of crisis managers. The envisioned learning platform utilizes blended learning and social learning concepts and technologies to facilitate knowledge building, adapted and customized to the needs of the crisis managers. End-user requirements will be individually assessed in order to generate up-to-date content while considering the wider EU-context.

Abstract: Integrated flood risk management involves a large portfolio of options for mitigating risks that includes hard and soft structural, non-structural, and recovery responses. Non-structural responses include flood warnings, emergency services supported by individuals, collective actions and the use of resistance and resilience measures. Sufficient flood warning time, appropriate actions at desired locations and time are essential for effective and beneficial responses. From this perspective beside the management of the crisis itself, the level of preparedness including the evaluation of plans involving such responses (e.g. emergency protocols) also needs to be sufficient and, thus in the context of various event scenarios.

Abstract: The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (Vito) in Belgium has initiated in 2000 the PEGASUS (Policy support for European Governments by Acquisition of information from Satellite and UAV-borne Sensors) project which envisages the development of a solar powered UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) containing several types of instruments for remote sensing and flying at an altitude of about 20 km. The aircraft can be deployed rapidly in crisis situations and provide disaster managers with ~1 m resolution images (or better if required) of the affected area. High quality data shall be received in less than half an hour from a mobile ground station that is in direct contact with the UAV, which can operate as long as requested by the user. The PEGASUS HALE-UAV is a flexible and cost-effective tool that will allow officials and local authorities to dispose quickly over relevant geographical information in an emergency situation. The first demonstration flight of the PEGASUS HALE-UAV shall take place in the summer of 2005 over Flanders.

Abstract: Project management has become a standard in business. Unfortunately, the projects as well as companies are increasingly subject to major disruptions. In this context, it is of prime importance to have the ability to manage the risks inherent to these projects to best achieve their objectives. The existing approaches of crisis management in the literature no longer seem to be adapted to this new normality. The future of research lies in a more systematic crisis assessment and a better conceptualization of the uncertainty associated with risks. It is necessary to rely on the collection of heterogeneous data in order to maximize the understanding of the project environment and to find a way that best describes and visualizes the influence of crises on the project management processes. This article uses the POD approach and applies it in the context of project management to address these issues.

Abstract: Between 2018 and 2019, the Incident Streams track (TREC-IS) has developed standard approaches for classifying the types and criticality of information shared in online social spaces during crises, but the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 has shifted the landscape of online crises substantially. While prior editions of TREC-IS have lacked data on large-scale public-health emergencies as these events are exceedingly rare, COVID-19 has introduced an over-abundance of potential data, and significant open questions remain about how existing approaches to crisis informatics and datasets built on other emergencies adapt to this new context. This paper describes how the 2020 edition of TREC-IS has addressed these dual issues by introducing a new COVID-19-specific task for evaluating generalization of existing COVID-19 annotation and system performance to this new context, applied to 11 regions across the globe. TREC-IS has also continued expanding its set of target crises, adding 29 new events and expanding the collection of event types to include explosions, fires, and general storms, making for a total of 9 event types in addition to the new COVID-19 events. Across these events, TREC-IS has made available 478,110 COVID-related messages and 282,444 crisis-related messages for participant systems to analyze, of which 14,835 COVID-related and 19,784 crisis-related messages have been manually annotated. Analyses of these new datasets and participant systems demonstrate first that both the distributions of information type and priority of information vary between general crises and COVID-19-related discussion. Secondly, despite these differences, results suggest leveraging general crisis data in the COVID-19 context improves performance over baselines. Using these results, we provide guidance on which information types appear most consistent between general crises and COVID-19.