Dear Javed

We have done work on an agent-based Life Safety Model to improve emergency management for floods including evaluation of the evacuation times needed to get people to safety. There are some publications that may be of interest here:http://www.lifesafetymodel.net/publications.html.

I know that this doesn't exactly answer your question!

We have also done work to look at how smart devices can be used to monitor dams and flodo defences as part of an EC funded project called Urbanflood see: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/content/urbanflood-managing-climate-change-urban-contexts and http://eprints.hrwallingford.co.uk/1337/1/HRPP700_Smart_infrastructure_in_dams.pdf and looked how smart documents can be used to improve the operation and maintenance of infrastructue such as dams see: http://www.hrwallingford.com/projects/smart-documents

I hope that this is of help.

Darren

Mobile apps put critical communications plan information directly into the hands of your crisis management team. The data is accessible on smartphones and tablets from any location and at any time. You can even push notifications and alerts to end users as an emergency evolves, ensuring that they always have the most up-to-date information. Apps like Lightning Alarm will not only let you know if there's going to be lightning, but it will also tell you where. Thunderstorm movement and intensity is displayed on a simple, elegant map. Similarly the Union Ministry of Earth Science has launched India Quake application which provides important informations.

Howver among the technological innovations that may significantly contribute to these solutions, the full exploitation of space assets for sustainable development purposes is considered highly relevant at this point in time. Orbiting in space, satellites can cover vast and remote areas of the Earth over many years spanning national boundaries and detecting global patterns of environmental change not easily observed from the ground. Data from satellites, collected digitally, can be processed with specialized computer software yielding accurate, timely and useful information products which inform decision- and policy-making. Certain geological features are only visible from space. For example, today’s advanced radar technology can detect slow shifts of the Earth’s crust. Likewise, after certain natural disasters take place, remote sensed images provide the most rapid and accurate information about sites which may not be accessible over land. The Geological Applications of Remote Sensing (GARS) programme strives to reduce the natural hazard risk affecting local communities and to manage groundwater resources. It fosters the coordination of lithological mapping, knowledge transfer, database management, landslide and volcanic hazard mapping.

Natural disasters such as floods, fires, and storms affect thousands of people worldwide. From the destruction of buildings to the spread of disease, natural disasters can devastate entire countries overnight and seriously disrupt the community with massive human, material, economic and environmental losses. To prevent these losses during disasters, emergency communication systems are critical in terms of safety, and ensuring the continuous operation and rapid recovery of emergency communication systems is more important than ever.The best emergency solution to utilize in these situations is VSAT technology. See the link

http://www.vizocomsat.com/blog/role-vsat-ngos-disasters-africa-part-1/

http://www.ndma.gov.in/en/ongoing-programmes/ndms-pilot-project.html

In this way, though they are not visible to the naked eye from Earth, satellite systems will play a critical role in next generation disaster communication and supporting the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Please read the conversation with Dr. Neil Parker, here https://www.researchgate.net/post/Anyone_interested_in_studying_if_a_new_mobile_device_visual_signaling_system_would_improve_Search_Rescue_in_the_aftermath_of_a_major_disaster Please try the free Visual 911+ app. Visit this site for an AAR regarding an NPS JIFX 17-3 that tested the post disaster survivor visual signaling system, http://www.triagelights.com/pdf/JIFX_AAR_Template_21st_Century_SOS%20_summary_Document.pdf and an IAEM article on the Visual 911+ app itself here, http://www.triagelights.com/pdf/Apr2017IAEMbulletinREVIEW.pdf

I am currently looking into the use of unmanned air vehicles (drones) for viewing inaccessible areas following a disaster. Depending on the cameras and other equipment that is loaded, it is possible to make a 3D make of a disaster area, showing access roads, secondary hazards, location of survivors, etc. There is even a group - Robotocists without Borders - who are available for disaster response.

http://crasar.org/roboticists-without-borders/

Hi Javed,

you are touching on a wide range of issues, and quite some useful pointers have already been offered, I won't aim at a comprehensive answer, but rather add some notes and links to what seem to me to be relevant research papers or projects my group is involved in. Overall we have been seeing a massive amount of technical developments that are suitable in disaster response, from already mentioned satellite-based damage mapping or emergency communication, to sensor developments, new drone tech, or crowdsourcing - each of those lines of developments addresses increasingly smaller and specialized niches. Here some pointers

- not sure if you are interested in drones/UAV as well. We have developed a number of methods to use drones for quantitative damage mapping (using advanced photogrammetry, machine learning/CNN, including use of BIM) - all papers can be found in my RG profile

- we also just finished a FP7 project called RECONASS (www.reconass.eu), where high value buildings are fitted with a range of sensors (accelerometers, inclinometers, position tags, etc.) that provide info on structural stability of those buildings after an earthquake or an explosion -- the data go into a finite element model to determine the residual strength. We also used drones for external damage mapping (to fill gaps from failed sensor nodes, corroborate information, etc.) - some of our damage mapping papers result from that project

- we also did a study on the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in disaster response, see Article Mobile augmented reality in support of building damage and s...

- we also just finished a study that for the first time looked at automated damage mapping from drone-based video streams ("Usability of aerial video footage for 3D-scene reconstruction and structural damage assessment", Cusicanqui, Kerle, Nex - this is in review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS) and will appear within days as a discussion paper, while being peer reviewed

- we are now working on projects that include drones that can physically interact with damaged buildings (place sensors), or enter them

Hope this is useful,

Norman

Dear Javed,

Exploring the new opportunities that posts Big Data for better understand DRR is fundamental and somehow unavoidable. This report may help to illustrate the opportunities, challenges and required steps for leveraging the new ecosystem of Big Data to monitor and detect hazards, mitigate their effects, and assist in relief efforts: https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/46539

Best

Vicente