disaster management software

disaster management software

The Importance of Disaster Management Software: Enhancing Preparedness and Response Efforts

1. Introduction to Disaster Management Software

As technology advances, trends such as big data, the internet, and the Internet of Things (IoT) may help disaster prevention and pre-disaster preparations, so more recent papers have proposed more accurate, modern technologies that can help disaster management. However, pre-disaster preparation and disaster management are not the only steps required, and a disaster management system for existing data may assist disaster response teams during a disaster. To understand the affected area quickly, the damage control command must collect rapid, confirmed, and correct data. The faster data is collected, the faster the command can make decisions, and the smaller the damage. We report on the development of disaster management software for optimizing pre-disaster preparations and enhancing disaster response capabilities.

Massive disasters cause huge disruptions in the daily lives of people. Flooding, cyclones, earthquakes, storms, and other natural disasters cause the greatest number of casualties. In addition to deaths and injuries, natural disasters affect water supply, food supply, health, transportation, and the economy. They may disrupt the environment and level cities, which can affect societies and human civilization. Some natural disasters occur without warning, so countries must prepare in advance to minimize damage and save lives. Disaster prevention and disaster management are difficult tasks that require the support of the government, private sector, and the public.

2. Key Features and Functionality of Disaster Management Software

Functionality: The crucial functionality of disaster management software includes: data collection through forms and geographic information system (GIS) capability, user access to data based on user authority, reporting capability, event management, such as could occur with inter-agency support during a disaster, including coordination with local, regional, national, and international levels, and customizable software systems to the unique needs and organizational structure of a disaster relief entity. Customizable software should include flexibility and adaptability in the system to fit with various types of users, data, hardware, network connections, communication tools (email, group discussions, and chat), and disaster management activities. Software that is open source can contribute to better data dissemination and analysis.

To ensure that it has all the essential features required to fulfill the needs of responding to various types of disasters, disaster management software should be designed in partnership with the actual users of the software. It must be user-centric yet flexible. A disaster management software system’s end-users include: local, regional, national, and international disaster management agencies, organizations that may partner in disaster relief efforts, and organizations that offer products and services useful for disaster response. Each of these potential users has different software needs. Therefore, the software must be flexible enough to work in all of these settings and with all types of users. When working with various types of disasters, with very different global implications, the targeting of critical user needs of disaster management software requires careful identification of the target users’ and stakeholders’ needs.

3. Case Studies: Effective Implementation of Disaster Management Software

Instead of taking the “top-down” approach of trying to spread our software capabilities into the less known world of international disaster response, we have opted to move forward from the perspective of our traditional departmental-level user.

The versatility and adaptability of our data management software goes a long way toward allowing disaster management software applications to be effectively employed at the very local levels with which they are most concerned. We have already gained a great deal of experience with these levels when it comes to local fire services, local police departments, local health agencies, local school systems, and local government.

Relevance at the international level, effective at the local level

If they are integrated into Computer-Based Information Center programs (Pre-disaster and Rapid Needs Assessment, including GIS mapping, and Humanitarian Assistance), I am convinced that the data management and GIS capabilities available in this product offer powerful mechanisms that enable responders, on the local and international levels, to best respond to disasters. The tsunami, hurricane Katrina, and the Kashmir earthquake are global confirmations that we need to be able to do things better and faster in the event of disaster relief.

Even experienced government and relief agency personnel can have a difficult time concentrating on the most important aspects of a given disaster at any given time.

Whether it’s a flood, a fire, an earthquake, a hurricane, a wind storm, or a multitude of other types of disasters, the ability to render a simple and/or detailed, single and/or multi-layered map, at any given level of detail, allows all key decision makers or emergency management team members, regardless of their expertise in handling computer software, to effectively understand what’s happening on the ground. Such knowledge in turn similarly enhances their ability to make the most effective use of available resources.

Ever since the release of our original data management application, GIS mapping has been one of our strongest selling points and easily one of the most popular features. It’s not hard to see why. The power of visualization – to take an actual look and see what’s really going on – is unrivaled in terms of understanding the distribution of both disaster impact and disaster relief assistance.

The advantage of GIS mapping software in effective response

4. Challenges and Future Directions in Disaster Management Software

Perhaps the greatest area of weakness pertains to software and techniques for computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) and distributed decision support for emergencies. Above all, we must be wary of declaring such systems feasible without conducting more vigorous methodological studies of emergency response work and providing support for participating agencies and organizations as they deploy and adapt new systems. Other problems include inadequate and often unreliable communication and networking infrastructures, lack of data interoperability standards and divergent policies for sharing of agency data, and inadequate decision support systems that take into consideration the larger political and economic context of disaster management. For example, Ceder and Horan found that the psychological, governmental, and economic dependency of some crisis-rich areas on their disaster risks and consequences would influence one’s choice of disaster preparation and response strategies for that area. In light of these issues, future research directions include sound crisis data collection needs and methods, a better understanding of decision-making processes during disaster management, the development of intelligent and transparent software agents, new open standards for data manipulation, and citizen and digital volunteer participation.

Despite the numerous potential benefits offered by the emerging computing technologies in disaster management, a number of challenges and issues must be resolved before these benefits can be reaped. First, disaster management software is very costly to develop and operate and is a relatively young field offering few proven solutions. Individuals, companies, and national agencies cannot afford to establish one-of-a-kind or customized disaster operations centers. Therefore, only a few disaster management systems and techniques have been implemented to date. In addition, our understanding of complex human, organizational, and social characteristics of crisis response is incomplete or, at times, wrong. Consequently, the attributes of effective computer-based disaster management tools and the roles they are likely to play have not been systematically studied.