Abstract: The first hours after a disaster are essential to minimizing the loss of life. The chance for survival in the debris of a collapsed building for example decreases considerably after 72 hours. However the available information in the first hours after a disaster is limited, uncertain and dynamically changing. A goal in the development of the Disaster Management Tool (DMT) was to support the management of this situation. Its module DMT-EOC specifically deals with problems of the members in an emergency operation centre (EOC) by providing a training environment for computer based table top exercises and assistance during earthquake disasters. The system is based on a flexible and extendible architecture that integrates different concepts and programming interfaces. It contains a simulation for training exercises and the evaluation of decisions during disaster response. A decision support implemented as a multi-agent system (MAS) combines operation research approaches and rule-base evaluation for advice giving and criticising user decisions. The user interface is based on a workflow model which mixes naturalistic with analytic decision-making. The paper gives an overview of the models behind the system components, describes their implementation, and the testing of the resulting system.

Abstract: WORKPAD (EU STREP project FP6-2005-IST-5-034749) is an experimental platform for Crisis Response which adopts a decentralized, event-driven approach to overcome problems and limitations of centralized systems. The flexibility of P2P networking is relevant when different organizations must get rapidly integrated the one another, without resorting on standardized ontologies and centralized middleware components. This paper illustrates the main features of the Information Integration platform we've designed. A number of relevant technical and theoretical issues related to decentralized platforms are discussed in the light of specific needs of Crisis Response.

Abstract: This study attempted to evaluate the utility of the Incident Command System (ICS) in varying disaster contexts. ICS is mandated in the United States and practitioners assert that it is an effective organizing system for emergency management. However, researchers contend that the utility of ICS is conflated with inter-team familiarity gained during ICS exercises. A military team-in-the-loop simulator was customized to represent the problems, resources, and command structures found in civilian led disaster management teams. A modified single case design drawn from behavioral psychology was used to explore possible casual relationships between changes team heterogeneity and performance. The design also allowed for the evaluation of improvisation on performance. Further, psychological factors that may underpin improvisation were explored. In addition to some preliminary empirical findings, the successes and difficulties in adapting the DDD simulator are briefly discussed as part of an effort to achieved greater interdisciplinary integration.

Abstract: Information systems for crisis response and management, including military Command & Control systems, are designed to support their users' decision-making processes. Decision making can be rational or naturalistic. Psychologists have shown that experienced decision makers under time pressure prefer using naturalistic methods. Case studies of four implemented Command & Control systems show that most decision support assumes rational decision making. Some support for naturalistic decision making is becoming available. We identify a mix of rational and naturalistic decision support tools as being desirable for flexible Command & Control.

Abstract: The creation of action statistics of fire extinction services is a common activity in the management of forest-fires emergencies. The compilation of action data and the elaboration of statistics based upon those data allow drawing relevant information about forest fires emergencies and fire extinction services. The creation of action statistics requires the exchange of heterogeneous data, with different granularity and detail, among scattered sources. This paper introduces a Forest Fire Report Data Model devoted to be a data reference model for sharing and exchanging forest fire reports in order to achieve syntactic interoperability among independent systems. The definition of the model has been based on the review of forest fire statistics made by different agencies as well as the experience gained in developing an information system, called SIU6, for the creation of action reports of.

Abstract: Humanitarian logistics represents a broad range of activities taking place within humanitarian organizations, the bulk of these activities are also components of a broader humanitarian supply chain – The network involved with providing physical aid to beneficiaries. Humanitarian logistics information systems improve information flows, which integrates logistics units more efficiently with non-logistics units within the humanitarian supply chains and provides better feedback to donors, ensuring more effective operations. Humanitarian logistics activities occur across the disaster management cycle. Humanitarian logistics information systems not only improve logistics activities in each phase, but can improve the continuity of humanitarian operations by sharing information throughout the transition of different disaster management cycle phases. Through collaboration between organizations, humanitarian logistics information systems also have the potential to reduce corruption and the market distortion which can occur during humanitarian operations.

Abstract: Local emergency-response organizations must maximize their use of existing resources. Therefore, emergencyresponse organizations need appropriate command-and-control (C2) systems to coordinate not only their own resources, but also to take advantages of other local actors. The local nature of response coordination imposes additional challenges for the development of C2 systems. In particular, the C2 systems must support coordination across organizational boundaries at the local level. Service-oriented architectures (SOA) provide new technologies for the development of C2 systems. This approach is based on a set of loosely-coupled services offered by multiple actors rather than a single monolithic system. This work reports the result of a prototype SOA implementation that builds on a previous requirements engineering study for service-oriented C2 systems for local emergency response. The results illustrate how it is possible to develop lightweight C2 systems using state-or-the art Web and SOA technologies. However, there are still remaining organizational and maintainability challenges.

Abstract: Development of information systems support for crisis management in local communities must be based on the needs of the crisis management actors as well as capabilities of information technology (IT). IT provides extensive possibilities, but is difficult to adapt to the users' needs. A profound exploration of the needs of systems for crisis management is often neglected. Hence, the management of major crisis has been held back because of the lack of useful tools. This paper presents an architecture for system for the local communities. The development of the architecture was based on a needs analysis, including interviews with crisis management at a local community level. The architecture is also based on novel design issues that have lead to the development of a conceptual model structure called the mission support model whose main concepts mainly include (1) user roles, (2) services and (3) views.

Abstract: Developments in information and communication technology (ICT) have adjusted the opportunities for spatial and temporal representations of data, possibly permitting the simultaneous visualization of how different regions and populations are affected during large-scale emergencies and crises. We surveyed 13 crisis-related mashups to derive some high-level design directions to guide the design and testing of next generation crisis support tools. The current web mashups offer a new way of looking at how crises are spatiotemporally ordered. However, since all technology is constrained by limitations of design choice, examining the limits and possibilities of what current design choices afford can inform attributes of what next generation crisis support tools would require.

Abstract: In this paper we present an ontology-based system for managing emergency alert notifications. Our purpose is to generate emergency alerts that are accessible to different kinds of people, paying special attention to more vulnerable collectives like impaired people. By adapting alerts to different devices and users we can allow Emergency Management Systems (EMS) to communicate with collectives like blind or deaf people whom otherwise will be unreachable by usual channels. Moreover, if we consider the constrains imposed by the nature of the emergency situations we can also improve the information transmission to cope with situational disabilities (e.g. smoke during a fire can cause low vision problems). We centered our system architecture on two characteristics: The first one is an ontology that codifies knowledge about accessibility, devices, disabilities, emergencies and media so the alert notification can be tailored according to different parameters; the second one is the use of an open standard like the CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) that enables our system to interoperate with other existing systems.

Abstract: This paper concerns the development of the South African Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS). We describe a use case of wildfires causing electricity transmission lines to be adversely affected. This use case provided the rationale for investment into a system for detecting and monitoring wildfires. AFIS functionality is described and we quantify its user acceptance and benefits before discussing ongoing research and implementation efforts to allow AFIS to become a standards-compliant, service-oriented system serving the original use case but re-deployable or re-usable by other organisations for similar or alternative purposes. We end with a view of future work that will potentially allow AFIS to reach a wider audience.

Abstract: The basis of this article is an ethnographical study conducted in a German electricity provider company. The energy supply sector is an important domain in the field of emergency management research since electricity providers maintain an important infrastructure in various crisis scenarios. There exist many dependencies and interrelations between power infrastructure providers and authorities and corporations in cases of emergency. The maintenance workers of electricity infrastructures deal on a daily basis with problems that may emerge into a crisis on a larger scale. Our paper focuses this special division of the company – service workers in two different regions, one department located in a major German city and the other in a rural area. The categories of convergence of physical and electronical working appliances and infrastructures and socio-spatially bound knowledge serve to understand and analyse the work practices of the service workers as preliminary investigations to system development. Within these categories we also comment on the methodological implications for ethnographic analysis and technology development processes.