Experience Report

2013 ◽  
pp. 52-66
Author(s):  
Brianna Terese Hertzler ◽  
Eric Frost ◽  
George H. Bressler ◽  
Charles Goehring
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Cloud Computing Environment ◽  
The Indian Ocean

The events of September 11, 2001, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 awakened American policymakers to the importance of the need for emergency management. This paper explains how a cloud computing environment can support social networks and logistical coordination on a global scale during crises. Basic cloud computing functionality is covered to show how social networks can connect seamlessly to work together with profound interoperability. Lastly, the benefits of a cloud computing solution is presented as the most cost-effective, efficient, and secure method of communication during a disaster response, with the unique capability of being able to support a global community through its massive scalability.

Experience Report

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna Terese Hertzler ◽  
Eric Frost ◽  
George H. Bressler ◽  
Charles Goehring
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Cloud Computing Environment ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Unique Capability

The events of September 11, 2001, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 awakened American policymakers to the importance of the need for emergency management. This paper explains how a cloud computing environment can support social networks and logistical coordination on a global scale during crises. Basic cloud computing functionality is covered to show how social networks can connect seamlessly to work together with profound interoperability. Lastly, the benefits of a cloud computing solution is presented as the most cost-effective, efficient, and secure method of communication during a disaster response, with the unique capability of being able to support a global community through its massive scalability.

Collaboration and crowdsourcing in emergency management

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Ernst ◽  
Andreas Mladenow ◽  
Christine Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Social Network Effects

Purpose Emergency managers face coordinative challenges that require a high degree of mobility, flexibility and the ability to interpret heterogeneous, location-dependent information of various sources and quality. Recent information and communication technology-driven developments like crowdsourcing or social networks have opened up new organizational possibilities for emergency managers. To make quick but solid decisions, and improve the coordination of activities performed by crowdsourcees during disaster response, the authors suggest the use of collaborative features from crowdsourcing and inherent availability of resources from social network effects. In this paper, the idea of considering collaboration and crowdsourcing as drivers for flexibility in the design of business processes in the context of emergency management is prepared, the meaning of location-dependent tasks for volunteers is investigated, and the added value of social network effects is substantiated. Design/methodology/approach This paper is part of an ongoing research project in the field of crowdsourcing. It represents conceptual work that builds on relevant literature. Findings In terms of emergency management, the paper sheds light on what emergency managers may consider when coordinating activities performed by volunteers and how they may benefit from social network effects. Furthermore, it is shown how they can exploit information using collaboration-based and tournament-like crowdsourcing, how they can benefit from invoking additional resources using weak ties from social networks, and how visualization of information may support decision-making. Practical implications Exemplary applications to exploit crowdsourcing and social network effects to support improvisation and to respond flexibly in disaster response are given. Originality/value This paper suggests novel collaborative approaches to support emergency managers in their decision-making. Based on social network analysis, the value of weak ties is elaborated, and based on a taxonomy from crowdsourcing, distinct collaborative alternatives are developed and proposed for application in emergency management.

Experimental Verification of FEMA P646 Tsunami Loading

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 410-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panitan Lukkunaprasit ◽  
◽  
Nuttawut Thanasisathit ◽  
Harry Yeh ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
Runup Height

The 2004 catastrophe of the Indian Ocean tsunami prompted scientists and engineers to develop better guidelines for economically designed essential buildings that are capable of withstanding tsunami forces. A recent design guidelines document – FEMA P646 [1] published by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – proposes a practical method to estimate the tsunami design forces at a given locality with a known maximum tsunami runup height. This paper focuses on verifying the method stipulated in FEMA P646 through laboratory experiments, assuming the beach condition similar to Kamala beach in Phuket, Thailand, which suffered great losses by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Our experimental results confirm that the predicted forces provide a reasonable upper bound for the measured forces.

Protecting the functionality of airports during disaster responses—Natural disasters, accidents, and pandemics

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Fielding Smith, PhD, PE, Captain USNR (Ret.), MASCE ◽  
Sandra Sue Waggoner, BA, EMT-P, EMSI ◽  
Arthur Rabjohn, DipEP ◽  
Avi Bachar, BGen (Ret.)
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
Traditional Roles

Airports are important assets during disaster response. Traditional roles as command posts, shelters, temporary hospitals, and alternative communication hubs were filled by airports after Hurricane Katrina and for 9/11 flight diversions. The basic thesis of this article is that airports need special measures to preserve functionality (continuity of business) during response and recovery. The second thesis is that sound emergency management measures should be built into airports as a type of mitigation. This article applies qualitative analysis to historical case studies, plans, documents, and scenarios for use of airports during disasters. It focuses on policy, procedural, organizational, and operational measures to protect the functionality during responses.

Failed cooperation in times of natural disasters: explaining the rejection of humanitarian aid

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Dany
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Kobe Earthquake ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Management Capabilities

AbstractThis article asks why economically strong democracies reject humanitarian aid after severe natural disasters, focusing on the Kobe earthquake in Japan (1995), India’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), and Hurricane Katrina in the United States (2005). It explains these rejections of humanitarian aid by analyzing the decision-makers’ ‘self-perceptions’ through the factors of manageability, national role perceptions, and domestic political impact, as well as ’other-perceptions’ through their relations to donors and the nature of the aid offers. It finds that even in those disaster-prepared and economically strong democracies, state leaders rejected humanitarian aid not simply because they had sufficient disaster management capabilities. Rather, bureaucratic hurdles and administrative failure impeded aid acceptance. Moreover, conceptions of those countries’ roles as established or emerging donors, as well as domestic political factors influenced their decisions. Ultimately, the dominant explanations focusing on wealth and capabilities are thus too shortsighted. Not only giving but also rejecting humanitarian aid follows political considerations.

Setting Foundations for Developing Disaster Response Metrics

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahshid Abir ◽  
Sue Anne Bell ◽  
Neha Puppala ◽  
Osama Awad ◽  
Melinda Moore
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Haiti Earthquake ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Response Performance

AbstractThere are few reported efforts to define universal disaster response performance measures. Careful examination of responses to past disasters can inform the development of such measures. As a first step toward this goal, we conducted a literature review to identify key factors in responses to 3 recent events with significant loss of human life and economic impact: the 2003 Bam, Iran, earthquake; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Using the PubMed (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD) database, we identified 710 articles and retained 124 after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Seventy-two articles pertained to the Haiti earthquake, 38 to the Indian Ocean tsunami, and 14 to the Bam earthquake. On the basis of this review, we developed an organizational framework for disaster response performance measurement with 5 key disaster response categories: (1) personnel, (2) supplies and equipment, (3) transportation, (4) timeliness and efficiency, and (5) interagency cooperation. Under each of these, and again informed by the literature, we identified subcategories and specific items that could be developed into standardized performance measures. The validity and comprehensiveness of these measures can be tested by applying them to other recent and future disaster responses, after which standardized performance measures can be developed through a consensus process. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:505–509)

Book Reviews

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 576-578
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Kobe Earthquake ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
State And Market ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Benno Torgler of Queensland University of Technology and EBS Universitat fur Wirtschaft und Recht reviews, “Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery” by Daniel P. Aldrich. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores how social resources, networks, and connections influence postdisaster recovery, drawing upon experiences from four major disasters in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Discusses social capital—its role in postdisaster recovery; social capital—a Janus-faced resource for recovery; the Tokyo earthquake, 1923; the Kobe earthquake, 1995; the Indian Ocean tsunami, 2004; Hurricane Katrina, 2005; and between state and market—the way forward. Aldrich is Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University.”

Disasters

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Gillespie
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Disaster Losses

Disasters are a form of collective stress posing an unavoidable threat to people around the world. Disaster losses result from interactions among the natural, social, and built environments, which are becoming increasingly complex. The risk of disaster and people's susceptibility to damage or harm from disasters is represented with the concept of vulnerability. Data from the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and genocide in Darfur, Sudan, show poor people suffer disproportionately from disasters. Disaster social work intervenes in the social and built environments to reduce vulnerability and prevent or reduce long-term social, health, and mental health problems from disasters.

Disaster Volunteers

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Emergency Managers

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. Please check back later for the full article. Emergency managers, community leaders, and organizations can recruit and deploy volunteers to make a difference when disasters occur. Leveraging the social capital such volunteers produce can expedite disaster response and recovery if managed effectively. Recent research brings to light the benefits and consequences of volunteerism, including the personal meaningfulness found in disaster service. Evidence-based best practices for organizing, recruiting, preparing, deploying, and debriefing volunteers inform those who seek to understand and use volunteers. Disaster volunteers may be spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers (SUVs) or affiliated with experienced organizations. The benefits each can provide vary. Trends that have influenced today’s disaster volunteers include the professionalization of disaster voluntary organizations, training and education, and social media. The development of inter-organizational partnerships represents one such trend, particularly the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) movement toward Points of Consensus on volunteer management. Cases illustrating turning points in the history of disaster volunteerism and trends over time in the United States can be drawn from the Johnstown flood (1889), the Galveston hurricane (1900), the San Francisco earthquake (1906), hurricane Camille (1969), the Mississippi River floods, hurricane Katrina (2005), and SuperStorm Sandy (2012). Internationally, examples of best practices can be drawn from the research and experiences in the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), the Haiti earthquake (2010), and Japan’s multiple, cascading events of 2011.

Phoenix tourism within dark tourism

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
DeMond Shondell Miller ◽  
Christopher Gonzalez ◽  
Mark Hutter
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Destination Image ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Knowledge Gap ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Dark Tourism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Post Disaster

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the knowledge gap in the field of dark tourism by understanding the phenomena of phoenix tourism, which focuses on the transformation and rebirth of places following death and disasters. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds on existing theoretical understanding of dark tourism and disaster recovery to explore destination image recovery within the tourism industry. It uses phoenix tourism as a lens to understand the social, cultural and economic context of post-disaster tourism destination recovery and rebranding in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Findings A presentation of post-disaster strategies and recommendations are given with attention to the re-branding of images once associated with death and darkness to enhance a destination’s resilience. Practical Implications For local policymakers, tourism leaders, researchers and community developers, this research describes strategies that facilitate rebranding dark tourism sites, such as areas of rebirth or “phoenix tourism”, to enhance destination recovery image and to promote a more disaster- and risk-resilient tourism industry. Originality/value This paper bridges the knowledge gap by defining and contributing to the theoretical understanding of phoenix tourism as it identifies the what, how and why elements of the phenomena of phoenix tourism. Furthermore, the authors propose how to overcome negative destination images to preserve, present or redefine an image of a tourist destination “overcoming”, and eventual “rebirth” serves to re-calibrate resilience of the tourism industry and regional redevelopment.

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