Implementation of Mobile Data Collection System for Disaster Rapid Emergency Response System Using Open Data Kit

Abstract— Indonesia is a disaster-prone country. One of the main problems related to disaster in Indonesia is that the country does not yet have a good disaster management that can function optimally in responding to disaster. Therefore, this research is aimed to produce a system that can provide emergency response for disaster management using mobile data collection system. This system would provide crucial and immediate information needed by the decision makers to decide emergency response and recovery procedure. This is a research and development research. The data assessment process is carried out by the assessor at the disaster location using ODK collect. The data then is saved in a mobile communication device. Data can be uploaded by the disaster server network when the connectivity is available. Assessment data can be viewed on the application server through a web admin. The system was generated by considering the law of the state of Indonesia no. 24 Year 2007 concerning disaster management agency planning and regulation by Head of BNPB (Indonesia National Board for Disaster Management) No. 9 Year 2008 on the standard procedure for emergency response team of national board for disaster. Data over disaster occurrence, its massive impact, emergency facilities or supplies needed, post-disaster condition, and a missing victim is provided in these queries. After being tested, it appears that the design and implementation of an emergency disaster response system have been able to run satisfactorily according to system specifications. Keywords—rapid emergency disaster response system, mobile data collection, open data kit (ODK

A Graph-based Approach for Detecting Critical Infrastructure Disruptions on Social Media in Disasters

The objective of this paper is to propose and test a graph-based approach for detection of critical infrastructure disruptions in social media data in disasters. Understanding the situation and disruptive events of critical infrastructure is essential to effective disaster response and recovery of communities. The potential of social media data for situation awareness during disasters has been highlighted in recent studies. However, the application of social sensing in detecting disruptions of critical infrastructure is limited because existing approaches cannot provide complete and non-ambiguous situational information about critical infrastructure. Therefore, to address this methodological gap, we developed a graph-based approach including data filtering, burst time-frame detection, content similarity and graph analysis. A case study of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 in Houston was conducted to illustrate the application of the proposed approach. The findings highlighted the temporal patterns of critical infrastructure events that occurred in disasters including disruptive events and their adverse impacts on communities. The findings also provided insights for better understanding critical infrastructure interdependencies in disasters. From the practical perspective, the proposed methodology study can improve the ability of community members, first responders and decision makers to detect and respond to infrastructure disruptions in disasters

Flood disaster preparedness and impacts on rural households: a comparative study of Mwandi District of Zambia and Eastern Zambezi Region of Namibia.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.The Zambezi Basin is considered vulnerable to climate variability as evidenced by the recurrent floods. The increased occurrence and severity of floods in recent years in areas previously not flooded has inundated parts of Eastern Zambezi Region of Namibia and Mwandi District of Zambia. The magnitude and frequency of these floods, coupled with poor disaster preparedness and lack of effective adaptation strategies, is believed to have negative impacts on rural households. Therefore, a cross country case study was carried out in order to assess the impacts of floods on income, crop production and livestock ownership; to determine the level of flood disaster preparedness; to assess coping and adaptation strategies undertaken by the rural households, and to develop a Household Flood Disaster Resilience Framework (HFDRF). Furthermore, the factors influencing the choice of different adaptation strategies and preparedness level were determined. Data were collected through structured and semi- structured questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, literature reviews and observations. The results indicated that floods had statistically significant impacts on income, crop production and livestock ownership of flooded rural households in both Namibia and Zambia. Rural households depended on both short-term coping and long-term adaptation strategies in order to minimize the negative impacts of floods and flood disasters. Households coped with floods through charcoal production, sale of firewood, sale of grass and reeds, collection of wild food and receipt of food aid. Long-term adaptation strategies included planting trees, fish farming, and flood water harvesting, temporary relocation to higher ground, and changing planting dates, among others. A majority of the households were well prepared (52%) for flood hazards in Namibia, whilst a minority were well prepared (9%) in Zambia. Furthermore, flood preparedness was influenced by sense of community, risk perception, self-efficacy, responsibility efficacy, outcome expectancy, education level, marital status, access and size of land. The study concludes that a variety of factors influence level of flood preparedness and adaptation strategy choices. For policy purposes, this suggests that relevant stakeholders’ interventions should consider these factors in order to enhance the rural households’ adaptive capacity to flooding. Furthermore, results on the impacts of floods on rural households could help in targeting the most vulnerable households in responding effectively to food disasters. This study informs decision makers and practitioners who aim to strengthen disaster risk reduction and management in the two countries and under similar environments, on the status quo of flood impacts, adaptation, and preparedness. The Household Flood Disaster Resilience Framework can be used as a tool for monitoring rural households’ flood resilience