Tsunami Evacuation Drill System Focusing on Mobile Devices

Natural disasters, such as tsunami, claim lives of many coastal residents every year. Therefore, tsunami evacuation drills are important for costal residents to survive tsunami. We developed a tsunami evacuation drill system that enables participants to evacuate and move to a shelter while occasionally glancing at a map-based tsunami simulation on mobile devices. The system has the following advantages: (1) a practitioner can easily customise the simulation, (2) the simulation can be displayed on a web browser and (3) the participants’ evacuation routes can be recorded and displayed on the simulation system. We conducted a preliminary comparative experiment with 18 university students and found that the developed system was accepted more by participants using a tablet rather than by those using smartglasses

Augmented reality for pedestrian evacuation research: Promises and limitations

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What We Can Learn From Japan\u27s Early Earthquake Warning System

Japan\u27s combination of high technology and cultural adaptation to its natural setting makes their earthquake detection systems a model for the rest of the world

Investigating the cross-disciplinary components of earthquake early warning systems

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems typically provide early estimates of earthquake magnitude, hypocentre location and/or ground-shaking estimates, as well as alerts ranging from a few seconds to tens of seconds, before the arrival of the damaging ground shaking at a target site. The warnings provided by these systems allow for the implementation of fast protection actions carried out by individuals like ‘drop, cover, and hold-on’, or the evacuation of buildings if the lead time is long enough. Nevertheless, the information and warning time provided by an EEW system could also be used by earthquake engineers as EEW seems to bear a powerful potential for the automatic activation of protection measures for infrastructure and critical systems, aiming at the reduction of risk due to earthquakes. Such automatic actions may include stopping elevators at the nearest floor, opening firehouse doors, slowing rapid-transit vehicles and high-speed trains to avoid accidents, to mention some. Few are the attempts found in literature about engineering applicability of EEW. This scarcity might be related to the fact that the real-time estimation of earthquake source parameters contains considerable uncertainty that may lead to potential economic losses if false or missed alarms are not avoided. However, different state-of-the-art studies regarding decision-making procedures for EEW have suggested more reliable approaches that can potentially reduce the uncertainty in the estimates provided by the system (e.g., earthquake source parameters and ground shaking), reducing the probability of triggering missed/false alarms, and therefore minimising the expected losses. The potential of designing new real-time advanced building protection applications for EEW is the motivation of this thesis. Mainly, two applications are considered: 1) Design of controlled structural systems using the early warning information, particularly, the use of semi-active devices denominated magnetorheological dampers. A control algorithm that governs the behaviour of the dampers is calibrated to obtain the most favourable response of a benchmark structure equipped with one damper. The results reveal that the developed EEW-based control algorithm can effectively reduce the expected loss of the considered case-study structure. 2) Prediction of shaking demands that can be expected in mid-rise to high-rise buildings, using a simplified continuum building model. A series of illustrative examples show how the newly developed prediction models can be efficiently used, in a Bayesian framework, for building-specific EEW applications based on the (acceleration) response in buildings, such as a) early warning of floor-shaking sensed by occupants; and b) control of elevator in buildings. The progress of technology and advances in the scientific understanding of engineering and seismology have promoted the rapid development of EEW systems around the world. However, their effectiveness is often limited as they lack the integration between their technical and social components. This thesis also aims at filling this gap to investigate which measures could be needed to increase the organisational resilience of local community stakeholders and the private sector. This topic is explored by implementing a mixed-method approach on the case study Mexico City (Mexico), that can be considered an area at risk due to the combination of high seismic hazard, structural and social vulnerabilities. This thesis shows the promising applicability of engineered applications of EEW systems and suggests a robust framework for the integration of the technical and societal components of EEW

Investigation of Drone Applications to Improve Traffic Safety in RITI Communities

Transportation and traffic safety is a primary concern among the Rural, Isolated, Tribal, or Indigenous (RITI) communities in the U.S. Although emerging technologies (e.g., connected and autonomous vehicles, drones) have been developed and tested in addressing traffic safety issues, they are often not widely shared in RITI communities for various reasons. This research aims to explore, understand, and synthesize the opportunities and challenges of applying drone technologies to alleviate or resolve traffic safety and emergency related issues within RITI communities. The project team first sent out online surveys to communities on the outer Pacific coast of Washington State and selected the City of Westport as the study area based on the feedback. A pilot study using drones for mapping and sensing in Westport was then conducted, followed by two community meetings to explore potential drone applications. With the three outreach activities, it was found that the current need in the communities was education on drones, including training for remote pilot certification (drone license) and drone operations. Findings of this research will help guide the project team to set up specific drone-related programs in the Westport area in future research

Tsunami Decision Support Systems. TDSS-2015. Outcomes of the 6th JRC ECML Crisis Management Technology Workshop

The 6th JRC ECML Crisis Management Technology Workshop on Tsunami Decision Support Systems was held in the European Crisis Management Laboratory (ECML) of the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, from 2ndto 3rd July 2015. The workshop, co-organized with DRIVER (Driving Innovation in Crisis Management for European Resilience) Consortium Partners, brought together stakeholders in the design, development and use of ICT tools for decision support. 20 participants attended the event. A good mix of regional and national service providers was represented, along with European and non-European systems providers and users. The purpose of the workshop was to show the status of the technology in this field, the specific requirements and the benefits in the use of one or another solution. During the first day participants presented their tools, while during the second they had to carry out demonstration exercises on the basis of given scenarios. In the last part of the event, they were involved in a discussion which revolved around a set of questions focused on, inter alia, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of each tool. The main aims of the discussion were to identify both new opportunities for collaboration and for tools integration and also to “bridge the gap” between the scientific and technical level and the operational dimension. The workshop was a very good opportunity for several research and operational teams to collaboratively discuss Decision Support Systems, lessons learned, ideas for improvements and opportunities for collaboration.JRC.G.2-Global security and crisis managemen

Storm Spotting and Amateur Radio: a Field Guide for Volunteer Storm Spotters

Volunteers have played a critical part in relaying weather information since the middle 19th century. The effort of these volunteers has helped safeguard life and property when severe weather threatens. For almost 100 years Amateur Radio operators have played a critical part in severe weather preparedness and response. Amateur Radio operators not only bring a willingness to serve, but communications skills that provide an added benefit to any storm spotter program. The National Weather Service recognized this when developing the SKYWARN program during the 1960’s. Amateur Radio and the National Weather Service have developed over the last 40 years a solid relationship that has been beneficial to communities across the country that face the threat of severe weather. This project, the first of its kind, seeks to gather information together that will help better prepare Amateur Radio operators that serve as volunteer storm spotters

Coordinated Transit Response Planning and Operations Support Tools for Mitigating Impacts of All-Hazard Emergency Events

This report summarizes current computer simulation capabilities and the availability of near-real-time data sources allowing for a novel approach of analyzing and determining optimized responses during disruptions of complex multi-agency transit system. The authors integrated a number of technologies and data sources to detect disruptive transit system performance issues, analyze the impact on overall system-wide performance, and statistically apply the likely traveler choices and responses. The analysis of unaffected transit resources and the provision of temporary resources are then analyzed and optimized to minimize overall impact of the initiating event