disaster response Articles
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Improving disaster response efforts with decision support systems
As evidenced by Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005, disaster response efforts are hindered by a lack of coordination, poor information flows, and the inability of disaster response managers to validate and process relevant information and make decisions in a timely fashion. A number of factors contribute to current lacklustre response efforts. Some are inherent to the complex, rapidly changing ...
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An assessment of geo-information use during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake response and recommendations to improve future use
The destructive effects of disasters on vulnerable populations will continue to increase as global inhabitants grow in numbers and occupy marginal, often hazard-prone areas. Recent experience has shown that there is a gap between available Geographic Information System technologies and geo-information management tools and their employment during disaster response operations. The goal of this ...
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A disaster response management system based on the control systems technology
A networked Critical Infrastructure (CI) system performs functions critical to national economy and security. It is a complex system in the sense of a social-technical system with time-varying boundary and topology, and there are dynamic, uncertain and stochastic factors throughout a whole disaster management process. In this paper, we first present a study aimed at developing a general ...
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Brokerage roles in disaster response: Organisational mediation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
When one organisation serves as an intermediary for twoother organisations which are not in direct contact, that organisation is saidto engage in brokerage behaviour. Using the case of the Hurricane Katrinadisaster, this study demonstrates the use of formal brokerage measures to studycommunication among the responding organisations. We apply the brokeragerole typology put forth by Gould and ...
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Disaster management: an ethical review and approach
There has been a great deal of research devoted to the general topic of disaster response. Not surprisingly, the bulk of this research has been conducted by researchers in the fields of emergency medicine, emergency response, and public policy. While a great deal of useful clinical and applied knowledge has been obtained from these studies, this paper is focused more narrowly on the ethics of ...
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Emergency management and ethics
Though ethics underlie emergency management in important ways, they have received insufficient attention in the mainstream academic and professional literature. This has led to the problem of people being insufficiently addressed as beings of moral worth in disasters, in spite of the overall claim that the responses are for their benefit. In the emergency field they can instead be treated as ...
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Reduction techniques in modelling critical infrastructures under the infrastructure interdependencies simulator framework
Modern, urban population centres are comprised of highly interdependent networks of infrastructures. In normal operating conditions, these interdependencies can be neglected without much trouble, however, in times of emergency, these same interdependencies, often hidden, can debilitate relief efforts. The effects are often noted in disaster response post–mortems as poor distribution of resources ...
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Long term recovery from mega–disasters: regional and business recovery periods, differential vulnerability, and business continuity
Understanding the underlying variables that contribute to the economic impact of large scale disasters is crucial to mitigating the effects on regions and businesses. However, depending on the approach used - secondary research on regions, using macroeconomic variables, vs. primary, survey–based business research - contradictions exist on the extent and nature of the recovery, and on the ...
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An international tabletop exercise on critical infrastructure protection: the lessons identified
In 2007, a TableTop eXercise (TTX) on Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was organised by the Civil Protection Committee (CPC) of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC). The aim of the TTX was to identify gaps in existing policies and capabilities for the protection of the civil population and Critical Infrastructures (CIs) and to provide nations and ...
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Dynamic recovery of critical infrastructures: real-time temporal coordination
This paper takes a systems engineering approach to the problem of operations coordination among multiple infrastructures to minimise the impact of large disasters on human lives. Temporal coordination is essential to avoid bottlenecks in the simultaneous recovery of multiple infrastructures systems. A solution framework is presented in terms of multiple-delay difference equations which bring out ...
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Structure versus freedom of action: leadership during the rescue operation following the 2004 tsunami
The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical understanding of leadership during a complex rescue operation following a major disaster in a foreign country. The analysis followed a grounded theory approach. Seventeen informants from three Swedish authorities were interviewed on leadership in the emergency handling of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. A theoretical conceptualisation was ...
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Modelling of cascading effects and efficient response to disaster spreading in complex networks
In order to assess cascading effects in directed networks, we present a model for the dynamics of failure spreading. The model combines network nodes as active, bistable elements and delayed interactions along directed links. Through simulations, we study the dynamics behaviour of generic sample networks. Besides evaluating the failure cascades, for which we observe a critical threshold for the ...
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An information management system for the emergency management of hurricane disasters
Access to accurate and comprehensive information for a wide spectrum of topics to support hurricane disaster planning and response is of critical importance to emergency managers. This paper presents the development of IMASH, an Information Management System for Hurricane disasters. IMASH is an intelligent integrated dynamic information management tool, capable of providing comprehensive data ...
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Emergency logistics and risk mitigation in Thailand following the Asian tsunami
A series of recent natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, droughts) and man-made crises (civil unrest, war, political disturbance) have highlighted the vulnerability of communities to unstable conditions. Reaching displaced people in crisis conditions is heavily dependent on the effectiveness of the supply chain and its management systems. Disaster responses have been modelled into, for example, ...
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An examination of interdependencies among major barriers to coordination in disaster response
This paper reports two exploratory research studies conducted to identify major barriers to coordination in disaster response and to understand causal relationships among those barriers. In the first study, two expert panels (emergency operations centre directors and firefighters) participated in a Delphi survey to identify and prioritise major barriers. In the second study, five focus group ...
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DUMBONET: a multimedia communication system for collaborative emergency response operations in disaster-affected areas
This article describes an emergency communication network platform based on a hybrid combination of Mobile Ad Hoc Networking (MANET) and a satellite IP network operating with conventional terrestrial internet. It is designed for collaborative simultaneous emergency response operations deployed in a number of disaster-affected areas. The architecture of the network, called DUMBONET, and our ...
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Emergency preparedness and management from national to local levels in Pakistan
This paper has made an attempt to analyse the emergency management and preparedness practices of Pakistan with focus on Baluchistan both at the community and organisational levels using key informant interviews, focused group discussions and discussions with organisations involved in disaster management process. It is revealed that disaster-related issues are handled at the provincial level ...
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Coordination in complex systems: increasing efficiency in disaster mitigation and response
Coordination in multi-organisational settings is extraordinarily difficult to achieve. This article examines the problem of inter-organisational coordination in the context of public administration theory and practice. The authors present the concept of complex adaptive systems as a theoretical framework that explains the dynamic processes involved in achieving coordinated action among multiple ...
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ALPDIRIS: a new project for IES Solutions
A new project for IES Solutions: ALPDIRIS The participation of IES Solutions to EU-funded projects goes bigger: a new one, called ALPDIRIS (Alpine Disaster Relieve for Italy and Slovenia), has just started. ALPDIRIS is a project funded by DG-HOME, the European Commission Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs. The project aims at enhancing the cooperation between Italy (Friuli ...
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A comparison and classification framework for disaster information management systems
A disaster, whether artificial or natural, can overwhelm even the best prepared segment of a society. When not properly managed, the same disaster inflicts far more damage than necessary. At the core of disaster management lie the monumental tasks of collecting, distributing, processing, and presenting disaster-related data. Although many products and proposals claim to accomplish these critical ...
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