Technology in Disaster Management Shyma S G Assistant Professor St Technology in Disaster Management Shyma S G Assistant Professor St. Pius X College Rajapuram

What is Disaster Management? Preparedness -- activities prior to a disaster. Examples: preparedness plans; emergency exercises/training; warning systems. Response -- activities during a disaster. Examples: public warning systems; emergency operations; search and rescue. Recovery -- activities following a disaster. Examples: temporary housing; claims processing and grants; long-term medical care and counseling. Mitigation - activities that reduce the effects of disasters. Examples: building codes and zoning; vulnerability analyses; public education.

Are we living in a more dangerous world than our grandparents lived? Living with Disasters… Are we living in a more dangerous world than our grandparents lived?

India and Natural Disasters India is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. Over 65% land area vulnerable to earthquake; 70% of land under cultivation prone to drought; 5% of land (40 million hectares) to floods; 8% of land (8,000 km coastline) to cyclones. A Major Disaster occurs every 2-3 years; 50 million people affected annually 1 million houses damaged annually along with human,social and other losses During 1985-2003, the annual average damage due to natural disasters has been estimated at 70 million USD Source: Ministry of Agriculture, GOI: BMTPC, Ministry of Urban Development, GOI

Date: December 26, 2004 Large earthquake strikes off the tip of Sumatra, Indonesia 07:00 hrs Seismological Station relays data of seaquake from seismometer center 07:06 hrs Center revises magnitude to 8.5, mentions potential for tsunami 08:04 hrs Sources: NYT, Sunday Times, Tamilnet,

Was this the reason?

Disaster Management in India Paradigm shift from relief and recovery to Risk & Vulnerability management Introducing culture of preparedness at all levels Strengthen decentralized response capacity in the country Empowerment of vulnerable groups and ensuring livelihoods Learning from past disasters.

Role of Technology in Disaster Management To catalyze the process of preparedness, response and mitigation. Providing access to vital information on Disaster preparedness to citizens. GIS based decision support system for planning. Designing early warning system. Emergency communication for timely relief & response measures. Building Knowledge Warehouses to facilitate planning and policy making.

Information Requirements Key Challenge - Information is Scattered Law Enforcement Data Exchanges Criminal Justice, Corrections Agencies Regional Centers of Operations Information Requirements Fire Dept, Early Responders, Other Disciplines Central, Regional,

Enabling the Possibilities We must collect, integrate, and analyze the scattered pieces of data and information required to assemble the big picture

Emergency Information Management Defined as the collection, consolidation, analysis and dissemination of the information — requires that the emergency manager be fully cognizant of the needs of the eventual users of the information. Effective emergency information management requires concerted planning, organizing, controlling, and influencing of human, material, and information resources to endure that information is disseminated to the right decision-makers at the right time to satisfy those needs.

Role of Disaster information system in various phases of Disaster Management Prepare Identify Prevent

Risk & vulnerability identification A database of past disasters effects to determine the risks in particular geographic location. Zoning of hazards using GIS. Validating the disaster history database with hazard maps and other external data for accuracy in risk assessment.

Preparedness for response & recovery Database of existing skilled human & material resources for emergency response. Database on human resources trained on various aspects of disaster management. Develop preparedness plans based on risk, available skill & resources. Converting Disaster Management plans into electronic documents for easy accessibility and easy updating.

Mitigation strategies and policies Mitigation strategies, policies and legislation based on statistical facts & figures from various databases. Development of a virtual knowledge net for creation of a network of institutions, developmental organizations and Government dept. for information sharing and preserving the research efforts.

Information systems framework for Disaster Management Reducing disaster losses & conserving developmental gains Planning & Policy decision for disaster preparedness & mitigation Hazard mapping & Vulnerability Assessment Database of disaster history for trend & pattern analysis Database of disaster management plan. Awareness & training materials Inventory of legal, techno legal, administrative and institutional framework Quick emergency response & recovery Human & material response resources database Database of Infrastructure, lifelines & critical facilities. Database of trained human resources. Demographic information GIS based information system Facilitating 1 1 2 2 3 elements 3 4 5 4 5 Knowledge base for disaster management

Content India Disaster Resource Network Disaster Inventory GIS in Disaster Management Emergency Communication plan Use of ICT at community level Proposed incident surveillance system

Online inventory of resources for disaster response preparedness

The biggest problem for disaster managers to respond to disasters is quickly mobilizing equipments, human resources and critical supplies to the emergency spot.

When disasters strike: Disaster managers needs lot of specialized equipments and skilled human resources for quick response.

When disasters strike: Delay in response may result in increased loss of lives and livelihoods.

When disasters strike: There is a lack of knowledge of whereabouts of these resources either in the neighboring District or State.

Online resource inventory for disaster management National initiative under the Govt. of India-UNDP DRM programme in collaboration with National Informatics Center, Government of India. Online database for capturing the countrywide inventory of equipments and skilled human resources for emergency response. A database to minimize emergency response time by effective decision making on mobilization of human & material resources. Systematic data collection & collation from Govt. line departments ,Public Sector Units, Corporate sector etc at the district level.

The Progress… Decentralized resource inventory being managed by the districts. 80000 records from 565 districts of 35 States/UTs already been captured. Districts are updating their inventory quarterly. Partnership with Builders’ Association of India (BAI) for Corporate Sector resource inventory.

Content India Disaster Resource Network Disaster Inventory GIS in Disaster Management Emergency Communication plan Use of ICT at community level Proposed incident surveillance system

Disaster Inventory Database- Objectives A database of disasters to understand trends and patterns. Capturing ‘Local’ level disaster data to understand the emerging risks at the local level. Geo-referenced inventory of small, medium and large-scale disasters to understand trends and patterns. To support planning & policy decisions for disaster preparedness and mitigation with statistical evidences. Providing an objective base for vulnerability assessment and priority setting.

Preliminary Findings-India Epidemics and cyclones are the greatest causes of deaths Epidemics are highly associated with floods, but also occur as independent incidents. Fire is the greatest cause of household destruction, comparable to Cyclone. Floods affect people more than any other type of disaster.

Distribution of Disasters- INDIA

content India Disaster Resource Network Disaster Inventory GIS in Disaster Management Emergency Communication plan Use of ICT at community level Proposed incident surveillance system

Geography Information System in Disaster Management GIS allows disaster managers to quickly access and visually display critical information by location. This information can be easily shared with disaster response personnel for the coordination and implementation of emergency efforts

GIS usage in Disaster Management Pre disasters Preparedness Risk Analysis Hazard zonation Vulnerability mapping Response planning Spatial/ non-spatial database Administrative boundaries(state, district, block/ taluka) River network Road network Railway network Airports Prediction Forecast Models (disaster wise) Vigilance system (observation & warning) Post Disasters Relief Disaster identification Immediate response Recovery Rehabilitation Impact study

Map Not to Scale – For demonstration purpose only

Community Contingency Plans linkages on GIS based system

Map Showing Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme States of India Monitoring disaster possibilities using Satellite communication and GIS tools Floods Map Showing Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme States of India

Global warming

Bio-Surveillance systems: Show spreading patterns of critical diseases Short term(SARS, Bird Flu) or long term (HIV/AIDS) Also address the issue of bio terrorism Stochastic modelling: Mathematical simulations based on real data

Description about the Area Layers Taken for analysis : Health Centres Multipurpose Cyclone shelters Storage Facilities Buffer zones Location of Boats River systems Roads Information can be retrieved upto village level. Block to Village can be zoomed in to view the geographical location of resources. Details about item/resource can be seen and query based resources finding is possible Flexibility of moving macro to micro level in a same window. Linkage has been established to District Disaster management Plan (DDMP) Block Disaster Management Plan (BDMP) Gram Panchayat Disaster Management Plan (GPDMP) Village-CCP

Content India Disaster Resource Network Disaster Inventory GIS in Disaster Management Emergency Communication plan Use of ICT at community level Proposed incident surveillance system

Does Early Warning matter? Technology in Disaster Preparedness and Response Does Early Warning matter? MAY BE MAY BE YES MAY BE MAY BE YES NO

Early Warning Systems - monitoring eg. ADPC Tsunami and Multi-Hazard Regional Early Warning System Recorder on sea bed measures water pressure every 15 mins - an unusual result triggers a reading every 15 secs. Buoy measures surface conditions and sends this plus data from sea bed to satellite Satellite receives data and relays it to ground stations

Float in a "stilling well" tube measures sea level Data is processed and sent to satellite Satellite transmits data to alert centres satellite

Early Warning Systems It is an end-to-end game…

State Level Communication NEOC POLNET HUB NIC HUB

NATIONAL EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION PLAN Parent Hospital Mobile Medical Team THRO’ POLNET NICNET HUB OPTIONAL BACK-UP FOR DEOC CONNECTIVITY THRO’ POLNET SEOC-N DEOC-1 DEOC-2 NATIONAL EOC GMPCS PHONE GMPCS PHONE PUBLIC ISDN NETWORK POLNET HUB Reserved VSATs MOBILE EOC - DEOC-N NQRT-1 VSAT

Case Studies India Disaster Resource Network Disaster Inventory GIS in Disaster Management Emergency Communication plan Use of Technology at community level Proposed incident surveillance system

Technology in Disaster Recovery (short term)

Disaster Recovery (Immediate Aftermath) Developed by LSF in the aftermath of tsunami Used LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) software stack The main applications and problems they address are: Helping to reduce trauma by effectively finding missing persons. Coordinating and balancing the distribution of relief organizations in the affected areas and connecting relief groups Registering and tracking all incoming requests for support and relief up to fulfilment and helping donors connect to requirements. Tracking the location and numbers of victims in the various camps and temporary shelters set up all around the affected area. Successfully used in Kashmiri earthquake (2005), Philippines Guinsaugon landslide (2006) and Indonesian Yogjakarta earthquake (2006)

Disaster Recovery (Immediate Aftermath) Role of Internet: Aftermath of Turkey Earthquake A major earthquake in Izmit, Turkey on August 17, 1999 Damage: 16,000 deaths, 120,000 houses Fixed and mobile networks almost down Only Internet was still up It was used to locate missing persons, joining families, diverting essential items, prioritizing activities, donor coordination etc

Disaster Recovery (Immediate Aftermath) Web 2.0 tools - Sarvodaya blog site Sarvodaya was not ready for a ‘tsumani’ No resource to support the thousands displaced The result: A blog site called www.sarvodaya.org Developed overnight by two volunteers This site connected the Sarvodaya teams at the international level Sir Arthur C. Clarke made a public request for donations through this site Site referred by Google, Apple and Nortel Collected amount more than USD 1 million over few weeks time

Web 2.0 tools – Social Networking

Disaster Recovery (long term) Example: DAD – Development Assistance database An automated information management system designed to improve efficiency and coordination of donor activities in the country. Promotes good governance and public accountability and transparency First used in Afghanistan. Now rolled out in Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives and Sri Lanka Has a user friendly web interface

Mitigation and Prevention Fortunately it does not have to be one technology over another…   Risk Reduction Mitigation and Prevention Preparedness Response Recovery GIS √√√ √√ √ Analytical tools Blogging Internet Mobile (voice) Mobile (non-voice) Open Source Satellite Communication Web 2.0, Social Networking TV, Radio

Case Studies : Community Level Orissa Experience 73 information centers in 12 districts of Orissa Early warning dissemination, information on disaster preparedness, agriculture, governance, health etc. Self sustaining models in partnership with Panchayats, NGOs, community. Facilitated by local volunteers and NYKS volunteers.

SETU Information Management System - Gujarat Case Studies: Community Level SETU Information Management System - Gujarat A nodal point for facilitation of the rehabilitation process underway in Kutch for a defined geographical cluster of 15-20 villages. A network of 22 such centers across 10 talukas. Act as a coordination cell for relief and rehab in a cluster Village community uploading information and feedback about on going projects and activities, base line resource information etc. Accessing info. On schemes, entitlements, technical know how in various areas.

Case Studies India Disaster Resource Network Disaster Inventory GIS in Disaster Management Emergency Communication plan Use of ICT at community level Proposed incident surveillance system

Reports and Utility of the System >Situation Reports >Alerts >Damage Assessment >Need Assessment >Immediate Relief Requirements >Intervention Gap Analysis >Long term recovery and rehabilitation planning >Disaster Trends and patterns report >Risk identification Incident Server Preliminary Data Collection Format Archived Research and analysis 3rd Party Analysis Tool Maps Graphs Research and analysis of time series disaster data through 3rd party analysis tools for trends, patterns of disasters and risk identification using graphs, maps etc.

Knowledge Network Creating and connecting community of practitioners in Disaster Management through a knowledge based portal. A network of organizations, research institutions, Government agencies and DM practitioners. Facilitating direct interaction, information sharing, virtual conferencing (e-mail/ video conferencing etc)

Together towards a safer world…