Understanding the Health Disaster: Research Design for the Response to the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak
International audience; The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest ever in history, affecting multiple countries and to this date, the World Health Organization has registered more than 6,500 deaths attributed to Ebola. The challenges arising from this outbreak to responders worldwide do not follow the standard characterisation or response patterns of natural sudden onset vs. conflict disasters. Rather, it is a medical emergency, which is intertwined with multiple challenges in the sectors decision-making, coordination, logistics and information management. In this paper, we present our research framework, which is based on desk research and initial interviews with responders. Th…
Designing for Networked Community Resilience
Abstract Communities have been described to be at the heart of the preparedness for and the response to disasters. The increasing connectedness has made communities more vulnerable for their dependence on a complex network of critical infrastructures. At the same time, this very connectedness has the potential to enable communities to self-organise, engage, and connect with other communities to improve their resilience. While the pathway to more resilience is promising and has many advocates, the response to crises and disasters, time and again reveals the challenges related to (i) ad-hoc switching from preparedness to response; (ii) ad-hoc connecting professional responders, communities, v…
A critical review on supply chain risk – Definition, measure and modeling
Abstract Economic systems are increasingly prone to complexity and uncertainty. Therefore, making well-informed decisions requires risk analysis, control and mitigation. In some areas such as finance, insurance, crisis management and health care, the importance of considering risk is largely acknowledged and well-elaborated, yet rather heterogeneous concepts and approaches for risk management have been developed. The increased frequency and the severe consequences of past supply chain disruptions have resulted in an increasing interest in risk. This development has led to the adoption of the risk concepts, terminologies and methods from related fields. In this paper, existing approaches for…
Understanding Decision Support in Large-Scale Disasters: Challenges in Humanitarian Logistics Distribution
Disasters are characterized by conflicting, uncertain, or lacking data. Nevertheless, humanitarian responders need to make rapid decisions. This is particularly true for the immediate response to a sudden onset disaster. Since most humanitarian decision support systems (DSS) make important assumptions on data availability and quality that are often not fulfilled in practice, decision-makers are largely left to their experience. In this paper, we identify three major challenges for an operational DSS to support distribution planning: (i) deep uncertainty; (ii) reflecting field conditions and constraints; and (iii) rapid humanitarian logistics modeling. We review the relevant theories and pro…
On the Nature of Information Management in Complex and Natural Disasters
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to present reflections on the nature of information management (IM) and its role and function to support coordination in one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time, the Syria crisis. Starting from general principles for humanitarian information management, we analyze the challenges that information managers face in conflict situations, when information is – more than anywhere else – a source of power and influence. This work outlines the interdependence of advocacy and operational information management, the sensitivity of information, and barriers to information sharing. The results are complex and highly interlaced information and coordination…
Innovative Research Design – A Journey into the Information Typhoon
Abstract Disasters are often characterized by their sudden onset and complex nature. The need for innovative and trans-disciplinary research that starts from the practice of disaster response is uncontested. Yet, the realities of field research require a rework of research design and processes. In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines in November 2013, a small team of researchers with different backgrounds came together in an innovative setting to investigate information management for decision support and sensemaking in the field. We combined the research in the field with remote support for logistics, communication and spot analyses. This letter describes our findings i…
Near Real-Time Decision Support for Disaster Management: Hurricane Sandy
Assessing vulnerability is fundamental for efficient risk management and emergency response. Integrating analyses from preparedness and risk reduction to inform the response phase requires that structural information about demographics or industry is combined with specific local information that highlights hotspots or emerging risks in near real-time. Owing to its availability on social media or other platforms, this local information is today often collected and processed remotely with the aim to inform responders and the public via reports, maps and apps published online. This paper addresses and discusses the challenges of remote near-real time vulnerability assessments by using an indic…
Decision Support for Disaster Risk Management: Integrating Vulnerabilities into Early-Warning Systems
International audience; Despite the potential of new technologies and the improvements of early-warning systems since the 2004 Tsunami, damage and harm caused by disasters do not stop to increase. There is a clear need for better integrating the fragmented landscape of researchers and practitioners working on different aspects of decision support for disaster risk reduction and response. To demonstrate and discuss the advantages of integrated systems, we will focus in this paper on vulnerabilities and early-warning systems. While vulnerabilities are mostly used to allocate risk management resources (preparedness), early-warning systems are designed to initiate the response phase. Indicator …
Technology Innovation and Big Data for Humanitarian Operations
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Special Issue on Innovative Artificial Intelligence Solutions for Crisis Management
International audience
Visualization of information flows and exchanged information: Evidence from an indoor fire game
- Understanding information flows is essential to improve coordination information systems. Aims of such systems are typically reducing information overload and improving situational awareness. Yet, there is a lack of intuitive and easily understandable tools that help to structure and visualize the ad hoc information flows that occur during search and rescue operations. In this paper, we present the concept of such an analysis, and present findings from an indoor serious fire game. For this game, we describe the interactions of Emergency Responders (ER), including individual information (over-)load, and descriptions of content of communications. This approach therefore provides an effectiv…
Managing in-country transportation risks in humanitarian supply chains by logistics service providers: Insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake
International audience; Humanitarian supply chains (HSCs) play a central role in effective and efficient disaster relief operations. Transportation has a critical share in HSCs and managing its risks helps to avoid further disruptions in relief operations. However, there is no common approach to or culture of risk management that its applicability has been studied through recent cases. This paper incorporates an empirical research design and makes a threefold contribution: first, it identifies in-country transportation risks during Nepal response. Second, we evaluate afore identified risks through an expert driven risk assessment grid. Third, we use our field data to study how some humanita…
The Impacts of ICT Support on Information Distribution, Task Assignment for Gaining Teams’ Situational Awareness in Search and Rescue Operations
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the way we communicate and work. To study the effects of ICT for Information Distribution (ID) and Task Assignment (TA) for gaining Teams’ Situational Awareness (TSA) across and within rescue teams, an indoor fire game was played with students. We used two settings (smartphone-enabled support vs. traditional walkietalkies) to analyze the impact of technology on ID and TA for gaining TSA in a simulated Search and Rescue operation. The results presented in this paper combine observations and quantitative data from a survey conducted after the game. The results indicate that the use of the ICT was good in second scenario than first sce…
Structuring Humanitarian Supply Chain Knowledge Through a Meta-Modeling Approach
To develop decision support systems (DSS) that improve humanitarian supply chain (HSC) performance, there is a need for methods that support on field data gathering and knowledge structure. We propose a meta-model to structure the knowledge of HSC and to obtain a shared vision of the HSC. It has been developed to provide a framework to class gathered data by connecting it to HSC concepts. The meta-model includes four packages, defining the collaborative ecosystem (context, actors, objectives, and behavior). The concepts gathered during our field research experiences, added to the HSC core literature, have permitted to build the HSC meta-model layer. Models built from this meta-model can be …
Identifying First Responders Information Needs
At the onset of an indoor fire emergency, the availability of the information becomes critical due to the chaotic situation at the emergency site. Moreover, if information is lacking, not shared, or responders are too overloaded to acknowledge it, lives can be lost and property can be harmed. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to identify information items that are needed for first responders during search and rescue operations. The authors use an educational building fire emergency as a case and show how first responders can be supported by getting access to information that are stored in different information systems. The research methodology used was a combination of literature review,…
A methodology for developing evidence-based optimization models in humanitarian logistics
AbstractThe growing need for humanitarian assistance has inspired an increasing amount of academic publications in the field of humanitarian logistics. Over the past two decades, the humanitarian logistics literature has developed a powerful toolbox of standardized problem formulations to address problems ranging from distribution to scheduling or locations planning. At the same time, the humanitarian field is quickly evolving, and problem formulations heavily rely on the context, leading to calls for more evidence-based research. While mixed methods research designs provide a promising avenue to embed research in the reality of the field, there is a lack of rigorous mixed methods research …
Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Videotaped Data for Fire Emergency Response
During search and rescue (SAR) operations, information plays a significant role in empowering the emergency response personnel at various levels. But, understanding the information which is being shared between/among emergency personnel is necessary to improve current coordination systems. However, such systems can help the first responders to gain/increase their situational awareness and coordination. Moreover, there is still the lack of automatic and intelligent tools that can contribute to structure, categorize, and visualize the communicated content that occur during SAR operations. Therefore, in this paper, we present the concept of such analysis by using the qualitative methodology an…
Session details: Data for good - disaster response and resilience
Improving situation awareness in crisis response teams
In responding to an emergency, the actions of emergency response teams critically depend upon the situation awareness the team members have acquired. Situation awareness, and the design of systems to support it, has been a focus in recent emergency management research. In this paper, we introduce two interventions to the core processes of information processing and information sharing in emergency response teams to analyze their effect on the teams' situation awareness: (1) we enrich raw incoming information by adding a summary of the information received, and (2) we channel all incoming information to a central coordinator who then decides upon further distribution within the team. The eff…
Introduction to ICT-Enabled Crisis, Disaster and Catastrophe Management Minitrack
This HICSS-47 Minitrack Introduction introduces the four papers accepted by the ICT-enabled Crisis, Disaster a Catastrophe Management Minitrack within the HICSS E-Government Track.
From Global to Local Disaster Resilience
A study on the sub-regionalization of humanitarian supply chain: the IFRC case
- Humanitarian Supply Chain (HSC) performance is a key factor for disaster response. In order to be more responsive, the typical humanitarian supply strategy has evolved from a centralized to a decentralized network, generally at regional level. The objective was to reduce lead-times and costs. However, after a decade of working, organizations like the Americas and Caribbean International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) have noticed that those objectives are only partially reached and have decided to go further in the evolution by developing sub-regionalized networks. In this study, we analyse the HSC sub-regionalization process to better understand the challenges and op…
Supporting group decision makers to locate temporary relief distribution centres after sudden-onset disasters
International audience; In the humanitarian response, multiple decision-makers (DMs) need to collaborate in various problems, such as locating temporary relief distribution centres (RDCs). Several studies have argued that maximising demand coverage, reducing logistics costs and minimising response time are among the critical objectives when locating RDCs after a sudden-onset disaster. However, these objectives are often conflicting and the trade-offs can considerably complicate the situation for finding a consensus.To address the challenge and support the DMs, we suggest investigating the stability of non-dominated alternatives derived from a multi-objective model based on Monte Carlo Simul…
On the Literature Divergences of the Humanitarian Supply Chain
International audience; The field of humanitarian logistics has evolved rapidly over the past decade, drawing on contributions from the areas of operations research, business engineering, supply chain management, information systems, and computer sciences. Even more varied are the specific problems that are modeled and addressed, ranging monitoring of the supply chain as a whole to decision support for specific sourcing or distribution decisions. While recently, few studies have presented taxonomies and identified research gaps, there is to this date not yet a clear understanding of how the different methodologies and domains shall be combined to achieve a consistent mix of methods and tool…
Defining and measuring the network flexibility of humanitarian supply chains: insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake
International audience; The efficient and effective response to disasters critically depends on humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). HSCs need to be flexible to adapt to uncertainties in needs, infrastructure conditions, and behavior of other organizations. The concept of ‘network flexibility’ is, however, not clearly defined. The lack of an unanimous definition has led to a lack of consistent understanding and comparisons. This paper makes a threefold contribution: first, it defines the concept of network flexibility for HSC in the context of sudden onset disasters. Second, it proposes a framework to measure network flexibility in HSCs. Third, we apply our framework to the 2015 Nepal earthqu…
Exploring the future: Runtime scenario selection for complex and time-bound decisions
Abstract Scenarios are designed to support decision-makers in gaining a better understanding of the consequences of decisions. Despite their popularity in IT for Foresight, a major obstacle is the complexity of strategic decisions and the resulting multitude of scenarios. Therefore choices need to be made, which scenarios to fully work out, by which experts and in which level of detail. This paper presents an approach to support making these trade-offs between accuracy and resources spent by prioritising scenarios based on their significance for the decision even on the basis of incomplete information. This approach combines theoretical findings in decision theory with results that were eli…
Deep uncertainty in humanitarian logistics operations: decision-making challenges in responding to large-scale natural disasters
Humanitarian logistics operations perform challenging tasks while responding to large-scale natural disasters. Decision makers at different stages of humanitarian operations exploit numerous problem-specific decision-making models or tools. When synchronising the outputs (decisions) from models into a unified solution, the situation becomes critical because of the lack of consensus on objectives and the availability of model alternatives with uncertainty in the models' key parameters and evaluation of the models' alternative outcomes. Thus, the operational environment becomes complex to respond urgently to humanitarian needs and makes the situation deeply uncertain. In this paper, we inspec…
Risk Accelerators in Disasters
Published version of a chapter in the book: Advanced Information Systems Engineering. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07881-6_2 Modern societies are increasingly threatened by disasters that require rapid response through ad-hoc collaboration among a variety of actors and organizations. The complexity within and across today's societal, economic and environmental systems defies accurate predictions and assessments of damages, humanitarian needs, and the impact of aid. Yet, decision-makers need to plan, manage and execute aid response under conditions of high uncertainty while being prepared for further disruptions and failures. This paper argues tha…
Adapting rail and road networks to weather extremes: Case studies for southern Germany and Austria
Published version of an article in the journal: Natural Hazards. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0969-3 The assessment of the current impacts of extreme weather conditions on transport systems reveals high costs in specific locations. Prominent examples for Europe are the economic consequences of the harsh winter periods 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and the floods in Austria, Eastern Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom in 2005 and 2007. Departing from the EC-funded project WEATHER, this paper delves into the subject of adaptation strategies by revisiting the project’s general findings on adaptation strategies and by adding two specific cases: (1) adv…
Leveraging Partnerships with Logistics Service Providers in Humanitarian Supply Chains by Blockchain-based Smart Contracts
As humanitarian organizations are struggling to reach an increasing number of beneficiaries, humanitarian-business partnerships, such as the use of logistics service providers (LSPs), promise to improve effectivity and efficiency of humanitarian assistance. Blockchain-based smart contracts which ensure automation, transparency, and efficiency promise to facilitate partnerships, particularly if trust is low. In this paper, blockchain-based smart contracts are critically examined for their application to humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). We identify various adoption barriers which we categorize into organizational, technological, and environmental. As the use of blockchain-based smart contra…
Developing a framework for designing humanitarian blockchain projects
International audience; Blockchain technology promises to improve the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of humanitarian operations. Yet at the same time, especially the humanitarian context with its characteristic volatility poses unique challenges to any technology. Most prominent are the humanitarian principles that are fundamental to humanitarian operations. These ethical principles are set to protect the most vulnerable populations. Designing blockchain projects in the humanitarian context therefore requires a systematic framework that helps humanitarians make critical choices.While some design instructions can be found for commercial applications, the humanitarian context re…
Beyond early: Decision support for improved typhoon warning systems
International audience; Warnings can help prevent damage and harm if they are issued timely and provide information that help responders and population to adequately prepare for the disaster to come. Today, there are many indicator and sensor systems that are designed to reduce disaster risks, or issue early warnings. In this paper we analyze the different systems in the light of the initial decisions that need to be made in the response to sudden onset disasters. We outline challenges of current practices and methods, and provide an agenda for future research.To illustrate our approach, we present a case study of Typhoon Haiyan. Although meteorological services had issued warnings; relief …
Automated Scenario Generation for Training of Humanitarian Responders in High-Risk Settings
Representing fire emergency response knowledge through a domain modelling approach
When any kind of emergency occurs, Emergency Responders (ERs) from different emergency organizations (such as police, fire, ambulance and municipality) have to act concurrently to solve the difficulties which are posed at the emergency site. Moreover, during the immediate response, getting the awareness of the situation is very crucial for ERs to lessen the emergency impacts such as loss of life and damage to the property. However, this can only be done when ERs get access to the information in timely manner and share the acquired information with one another during emergency response. Despite ERs share knowledge with one another they have to use same concepts to obtain the semantic underst…
Implementation Methodology of the Resilience Framework
Failure of Critical Infrastructures (CIs) can have severe consequences for our societies. Therefore, CI resilience has attracted increasing attention in industries and policy-making. However, empirical studies on CI resilience are rare. In particular, research on the implementation of policies aiming at an improvement of CI resilience is lacking. Using Group Model Building combined with the Delphi method, and surveys we have developed a framework to improve CI resilience. This research identifies policies to enhance CI resilience against major industrial accidents across four dimensions (technical, organizational, economic and social) and proposes a temporal order to ensure that the benefit…
Making sense of crises: the implications of information asymmetries for resilience and social justice in disaster-ridden communities
New information and communication technologies (ICT) have enabled communities to collect and share information and tap into a network of peers in unprecedented ways. For more than a decade, informa...
Bi-objective multi-layer location–allocation model for the immediate aftermath of sudden-onset disasters
International audience; Locating distribution centers is critical for humanitarians in the immediate aftermath of a sudden-onset disaster. A major challenge lies in balancing the complexity and uncertainty of the problem with time and resource constraints. To address this problem, we propose a location–allocation model that divides the topography of affected areas into multiple layers; considers constrained number and capacity of facilities and fleets; and allows decision-makers to explore trade-offs between response time and logistics costs. To illustrate our theoretical work, we apply the model to a real dataset from the 2015 Nepal earthquake response. For this case, our method results in…
Not a Target. A Deep Learning Approach for a Warning and Decision Support System to Improve Safety and Security of Humanitarian Aid Workers
Humanitarian aid workers who try to provide aid to the most vulnerable populations in the Middle East or Africa are risking their own lives and safety to help others. The current lack of a collaborative real-time information system to predict threats prevents responders and local partners from developing a shared understanding of potentially threatening situations, causing increased response times and leading to inadequate protection. To solve this problem, this paper presents a threat detection and decision support system that combines knowledge and information from a network of responders with automated and modular threat detection. The system consists of three parts. It first collects te…
Cognitive biases in humanitarian sensemaking and decision-making lessons from field research
Time and again, humanitarian decision-makers are confronted with stress and pressure, distorted, lacking and uncertain information, and thus they are working in conditions that are known to introduce or enforce biases. Decision analysis has been designed to overcome such biases, and a network of “digital responders” organized over the Internet has set out to improve judgments by providing better information. However, without any structured support to determine objectives, goals and preferences and detached from the context of operational decision-makers, remote analysts may face the very biases they are trying to help overcome. This article sets out to identify biases that matter for humani…