Analysis of Emergency Task Planning System in Multi-subject Coalitions

Abstract

Emergency response is a complicated process that requires substantial knowledge, information support and multi-subject collaboration. This paper focuses on the analysis and design of a system for emergency responders in charge of task planning, coordinating and controlling the actions in crisis response. Based on system science theory, we analysed the characteristics of emergency decision-making in times of disaster and discussed the process and internal architecture of the resulting system for developing an emergency plan. We also provide a basic analysis framework for multi-layer, multisubject and multi-task emergency planning in times of disaster. We designed the structure and process of an emergency planning system. Consistent data standards are critical for such a system, and many analyses of crisis response reveal that the lack of such standards hinders efficient critical information flow among incident responders. Therefore, using a team collaborative perspective for emergency planning, we developed an emergency information and plan model for general emergency planning based on the hazard emergency domain and plan ontology concepts. This is a basic utilitarian model for the hierarchical collaborative emergency plan process. We also developed a prototype system and tested its validity for multi-subject task planning.