Disaster Management and HCI: A Critical Review of Current Research and Future Directions

Abstract

<div>The increasing frequency of disasters in the past few decades have</div><div>threatened individual life and situation. Therefore, there is a growing research interest</div><div>in the development and practice of disaster management systems. Disaster management</div><div>systems help understand and support disaster relief, preparation, recovery,</div><div>rehabilitation, risk, and vulnerability reduction to assist professionals from diverse</div><div>backgrounds. These professionals can range from medical personnel, government staff,</div><div>firefighters, military personnel, emergency call center operatives, and volunteers. When</div><div>a disaster occurs, it becomes challenging and essential for these professionals to</div><div>manage and coordinate the available resources. Thus, efficient communication and the</div><div>availability of information are crucial. An effective system with an adequate HCI to</div><div>assist these first responders in coordinating tasks can save time and individual life,</div><div>which might not be possible without a well-defined user interface for interaction. HCI</div><div>plays an essential role in supporting disaster response scenarios through disaster</div><div>management systems. Though there is a rising number of researches in this area, it still</div><div>lacks a complete HCI overview for disaster management systems. Hence, this chapter</div><div>examines and analyzes research on the concept of human-computer interaction (HCI)</div><div>in the disaster management context. It provides an overview of HCI and disaster</div><div>management publications between 2009 and 2019 by presenting the current practices</div><div>and identifying the lapses in how research is conducted and recommendations for</div><div>opportunities in future approaches.</div>