[1] Disaster informatics or crisis informatics is the study of the use of information and technology in the preparation, mitigation, response and recovery phases of disasters and other emergencies. Disaster informatics or emergency involves increased use of technology to depict how people can react to emergencies and other disasters that require fast improvements on recovery and preparedness. [2] It began to emerge as a field after the successful use of a variety of technologies in disasters including the Asian tsunami, September 11th and Hurricane Katrina.
Disaster informatics may involve incorporating social media content generated by people in disaster zones into humanitarian response plans based on satellite imagery, early warning systems, and official emergency services procedures. Disaster informatics may involve crowdsourcing, data mining, participatory mapping or citizen science, with members of the public as 'everyday analysts'. [3]
The term Informatics goes back to the 1960s rooting to medical informatics, this defines informatics as a discipline of science that researches the structure and regularities of scientific information. Subsequently, Informatics became reiterated as the broad range of informatics topics and various definitions between 1960-2000. [4] Essentially, this indicates that Informatics is the study of identifying information with the application of information and communication technologies to manage data and analyze humans in a social context. [5]
Social informatics has grown tremendously over the past couple of decades, introduced as a stemming discipline to disaster informatics. In the late 1980's online systems became more networked and more portable for the emergence of innovation in information technology. [4] As telecommunications grow globally, the spread of information and risks are very powerful resulting in disaster management. [4] From the decade of 2000, informatics technologies have evolved and established disaster risk reduction technologies for advanced global disaster response. [4]
The term Disaster informatics was first used in a request for proposal response by D. E. Yarrington after the WTC communications problems were revealed. Subsequently, in 2002, a grant proposal was submitted to the National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine to begin the formal study of disaster informatics as it related to public health. This initiative emerged from her library and information science work at Jackson State University. [2]
Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining an overview of all information surrounding a specific situation. Crowdsourcing consists of reviewing information and data by analyzing online communities and this can be done through analyzing social media platforms and other online networks. [6] Crowdsourcing is a type of data analysis method used in correspondence with creating response mechanisms and mitigation exercises to build situation recovery and preparedness to react to emergencies efficiently and promptly. [6] With the constant spread of information, social media platforms are a main source of how crowdsourcing becomes useful. As crowdsourcing is gathering information, disaster informatics uses data mediation to create a strong data collection base.
In the context of disaster informatics, crowdsourcing helps to balance information and then use information technologies to prepare for certain situations. Disaster informatics uses crowdsourcing to maintain a plan for response and recovery over time in different crises and natural disasters. [5] Crowdsourcing is used in a variety of ways by disaster informatics, for example in disaster-affected locations crowdsourcing can review social media platforms to examine disasters in real time and help get assistance where it is needed. [6] Crowdsourcing also uses information technologies and telecommunication technologies to communicate precautions during times of crisis and uses early warning systems to reduce risks in the spread of misinformation. Crowdsourcing most corresponds with disaster informatics by advancing improvement in situational awareness and implementing reliability, responsive crisis organizations, and humanitarian collaborations like satellite imagery, early warning systems, and data mining. [6]
Data mining is the process of obtaining valuable information to determine the different patterns within large pieces of data. Data mining methods are a crucial step toward self-organization and computer-mediated communication to foster more effective disaster management. [7]
In disaster informatics, data mining uses information to mediate the spread of misinformation by retrieving data from satellite imagery and early warning systems to predict weather conditions, natural disasters, and potential threats. [5] Data mining helps to improve decision-making throughout disasters by finding challenges in data and using them to reduce risks in predictions for disaster response. Essentially, data mining provides insight into computing innovation in public forums and continuously communicates responsive predictions of disaster recovery.
Disaster informatics focuses on the retrieval of data and analyzing this data to extract significant information to form safety precautions and recovery mechanisms in preparation for situational disasters. Different data methods like crowdsourcing, remote sensing, data mining, computer vision, participatory mapping, and citizen-generated science are practiced to provide insights among specific complex data to gauge decision-making and prioritize effective resources. [3] When using these tools and technologies in disaster informatics the data collected involves using real-time event detection, using sensory networks to find data mapping information, and using the statistics of past disasters to allocate resources and rapid quality assessment. [5]
Within the process of reforming and extracting data from large-scale data analytics like social media, satellite imagery, remote sensing, and multidisciplinary layers of data the analysis of this type of data introduces different developments of health effectiveness in response to opening a comprehensive approach to disaster management and disaster informatics. These methods enhance the options used to distribute communications and interactions during, after, and before disasters occur. [5]
In disaster informatics, there are a number of technologies that are used to collect and disseminate data for disaster preparedness and mitigation. These technologies are used to make visual differences within communities to provide awareness to disaster-affected communities. Through 1900s-2000s the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction initiative arose and started by using technologies like geographic information systems (GIS), data visualization tools for real-time monitoring, different simulation models, and cloud computing to evaluate the behavior of the population to understand how people should and can respond to disasters. [5] This helped people to use resources and responsive strategies to evaluate a disaster and evacuate if required. These complex measures explain clear analysis for the higher-risk areas in the location of a natural disaster and even lower-risk areas for prompt reaction and preparedness.
In the context of individual association with disaster informatics, Geographic Information Systems are used for hazard mapping and damage assessment to help visualize routes to take in infrastructure to the disaster-impacted areas. [5] GIS includes technologies like satellite imagery, social media, and other remote sensory networks. Remote sensing is very compatible with disaster informatics by detecting satellite or drone-type technologies by using these sensing technologies to evaluate images to provide information about geographical changes in weather patterns, land change, and damage levels after a disaster. [5] Combining this with early warning systems and evaluating population behaviors in natural and man-made crises have helped create alerts to the authorities and the public promptly. These tools and visualization technologies reflect data, maps, and graphs in a way that allows people to make distinctions regarding disaster recovery.
In correspondence with the history and known definition of information technology and informatics, the use of “smart” technologies grew tremendously as the year 2000 hit and catastrophic events substantially shaped the way that disaster informatics is now used for disaster management. [2] Subsequently, some of the major catastrophic events that took place after the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) initiative were the attacks of September 11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Asian tsunami. [5] Each of these disasters called for an initiative that protects and proposes management and recovery in coordination with disaster informatics. In response to these disasters, Informatics resulted in an emergence of information, data collection, communicational response, and fast-acting solutions to any public crisis. [2]
The attacks of September 11th played a vital role in the disbursement of disaster management as these attacks not only signified the importance of disaster informatics, but embraced the need for rapid response mechanisms to perform emergence governance to the public. In 2001, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction called for actions regarding disaster informatics and the study and role of science and technology in disaster reduction. [5] After these attacks occurred this opened up a large volume of communication and coordination between several government agencies to cover different categories of disaster recovery. Through communication systems and geospatial technologies this then emerged effective solutions for more catastrophic emergencies. These solutions consist of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security Information Network, working toward helping mainstream agencies improve recovery and preparedness for future crises. [5] [8]
In 2004, The Asian tsunami exposed a whole new territory of recovery and preparedness regarding geographic natural disaster. During this time, with no early warning systems in place, the tsunami made it difficult for responders to act fast and predict moves for future precaution. Using disaster informatics, this led to the creation of data regarding oceanic measurement and tectonic wave activity to determine the areas affected by post-tsunami damages. [9] Disaster informatics took over the response to mitigate tsunami and earthquake research and used technologies like remote sensing and crowdsourcing to develop automated responses to detect tsunamis in preparations for emergency evacuation. [9]
By 2005, disaster informatics had made modifications to emergency communication systems and response planning within several areas of disaster management. After Hurricane Katrina, disaster informatics became more significant and more evolved with improved technological solutions for rescue resources and emergency planning. [3] With the research limitations, Hurricane Katrina exposed many weaknesses within the usefulness of GIS and crowdsourcing, due to the lack of preparation and tools and resources for evacuation. [5]
Essentially, all of these catastrophic events took place in a manner that structured disaster informatics, to better improve technology and mechanisms to ensure utmost safety regarding future events. Overall, disaster informatics will continue to evolve and involve new technologies for better data preparation and help coordinate awareness for communication technologies in disaster management.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.
Business continuity may be defined as "the capability of an organization to continue the delivery of products or services at pre-defined acceptable levels following a disruptive incident", and business continuity planning is the process of creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company. In addition to prevention, the goal is to enable ongoing operations before and during execution of disaster recovery. Business continuity is the intended outcome of proper execution of both business continuity planning and disaster recovery.
Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s. It is considered to be the most important process in public relations.
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is an inter-regional supportive network of independent emergency units throughout the Caribbean region. Formed on September 1, 2005, as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), it underwent a name change to CDEMA in September 2009.
A humanitarian crisis is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or external conflict and usually occurs throughout a large land area. Local, national and international responses are necessary in such events.
The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is a series of United Nations conferences focusing on disaster and climate risk management in the context of sustainable development. The World Conference has been convened three times, with each edition to date having been hosted by Japan: in Yokohama in 1994, in Hyogo in 2005 and in Sendai in 2015. As requested by the UN General Assembly, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) served as the coordinating body for the Second and Third UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction in 2005 and 2015.
Emergency management is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies; emergency management or disaster management can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.
Disaster response refers to the actions taken directly before, during, or immediately after a disaster. The objective is to save lives, ensure health and safety, and meet the subsistence needs of the people affected. It includes warning and evacuation, search and rescue, providing immediate assistance, assessing damage, continuing assistance, and the immediate restoration or construction of infrastructure. An example of this would be building provisional storm drains or diversion dams. Emergency response aims to provide immediate help to keep people alive, improve their health and support their morale. It can involve specific but limited aid, such as helping refugees with transport, temporary shelter, and food. Or it can involve establishing semi-permanent settlements in camps and other locations. It may also involve initial repairs to damage to infrastructure, or diverting it.
An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, event detection and decision subsystems for early identification of hazards. They work together to forecast and signal disturbances that adversely affect the stability of the physical world, providing time for the response system to prepare for the adverse event and to minimize its impact.
Hazus is a geographic information system-based natural hazard analysis tool developed and freely distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Preparedness is a set of actions that are taken as precautionary measures in the face of potential disasters. Being prepared helps in achieving goals and in avoiding and mitigating negative outcomes.
Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) is an applied science, information and technology center, working to reduce disaster risks and impacts on life, property, and the economies worldwide.
Disaster risk reduction aims to make disasters less likely to happen. The approach, also called DRR or disaster risk management, also aims to make disasters less damaging when they do occur. DRR aims to make communities stronger and better prepared to handle disasters. In technical terms, it aims to make them more resilient or less vulnerable. When DRR is successful, it makes communities less the vulnerable because it mitigates the effects of disasters. This means DRR can make risky events fewer and less severe. Climate change can increase climate hazards. So development efforts often consider DRR and climate change adaptation together.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), formerly known as the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) until August 2011, is a working group of various government, non-government, civil sector and private sector organizations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines established on June 11, 1978 by Presidential Decree 1566. It is administered by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) under the Department of National Defense (DND). The council is responsible for ensuring the protection and welfare of the people during disasters or emergencies. The NDRRMC plans and leads the guiding activities in the field of communication, warning signals, emergency, transportation, evacuation, rescue, engineering, health and rehabilitation, public education and auxiliary services such as fire fighting and the police in the country. The Council utilizes the UN Cluster Approach in disaster management. It is the country's focal for the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and many other related international commitments.
UN-SPIDER is a platform which facilitates the use of space-based technologies for disaster management and emergency response. It is a programme under the auspices of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
In emergency management, higher learning institutions must frequently adapt broad, varied policies to deal with the unique scope of disasters that can occur in on-campus settings. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires are among some of the most common natural disasters that possess the capacity for large losses of life and property, with the potential to effectively destroy a university community. Man-made crises also can pose a serious threat to life and property, as was evident in the case of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. In order to preemptively reduce or prevent the severity of emergency situations, universities must coordinate and implement policies to effectively eliminate unnecessary risks' and decrease potential losses.
Crisis mapping is the real-time gathering, display and analysis of data during a crisis, usually a natural disaster or social/political conflict. Crisis mapping projects usually allows large numbers of people, including the public and crisis responders, to contribute information either remotely or from the site of the crisis. One benefit of the crisis mapping method over others is that it can increase situational awareness, since the public can report information and improve data management.
Disaster preparedness in museums, galleries, libraries, archives and private collections, involves any actions taken to plan for, prevent, respond or recover from natural disasters and other events that can cause damage or loss to cultural property. 'Disasters' in this context may include large-scale natural events such as earthquakes, flooding or bushfire, as well as human-caused events such as theft and vandalism. Increasingly, anthropogenic climate change is a factor in cultural heritage disaster planning, due to rising sea levels, changes in rainfall patterns, warming average temperatures, and more frequent extreme weather events.
ISO 22300:2021, Security and resilience – Vocabulary, is an international standard developed by ISO/TC 292 Security and resilience. This document defines terms used in security and resilience standards and includes 360 terms and definitions. This edition was published in the beginning of 2021 and replaces the second edition from 2018.
Building Back Better, or more frequently termed Build Back Better (BBB), is a strategy aimed at reducing the risk to the people of nations and communities in the wake of future disasters and shocks. It is a conceptual strategy that has continued to evolve since its origination in May 2005. However, what continues is the overall goal of enabling countries and communities to be stronger and more resilient following a disaster by reducing vulnerability to future disasters. Building resilience entails addressing physical, social, environmental, and economic vulnerabilities and shocks.