Abstract
Planning in advance to prepare for and respond to a natural hazard-induced disaster-related emergency is a key action that allows decision makers to mitigate unexpected impacts and potential damage. To further this aim, a collaborative, modular, and information and communications technology-based Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) called SIRENE—Sistema Informativo per la Preparazione e la Risposta alle Emergenze (Information System for Emergency Preparedness and Response) is designed and implemented to access and share, over the Internet, relevant multisource and distributed geospatial data to support decision makers in reducing disaster risks. SIRENE flexibly searches and retrieves strategic information from local and/or remote repositories to cope with different emergency phases. The system collects, queries, and analyzes geographic information provided voluntarily by observers directly in the field (volunteered geographic information (VGI) reports) to identify potentially critical environmental conditions. SIRENE can visualize and cross-validate institutional and research-based data against VGI reports, as well as provide disaster managers with a decision support system able to suggest the mode and timing of intervention, before and in the aftermath of different types of emergencies, on the basis of the available information and in agreement with the laws in force at the national and regional levels. Testing installations of SIRENE have been deployed in 18 hilly or mountain municipalities (12 located in the Italian Central Alps of northern Italy, and six in the Umbria region of central Italy), which have been affected by natural hazard-induced disasters over the past years (landslides, debris flows, floods, and wildfire) and experienced significant social and economic losses.
Highlights
IntroductionNowadays there is a recognized need for designing and developing ICT (information and communications technology)-based strategies and tools to support decision makers in preparedness and response to disaster-related emergencies
Nowadays there is a recognized need for designing and developing ICT-based strategies and tools to support decision makers in preparedness and response to disaster-related emergencies
The results show that the proposed system can efficiently retrieve useful and timely information from the large volumes of volunteered geographic information (VGI) being exchanged daily
Summary
Nowadays there is a recognized need for designing and developing ICT (information and communications technology)-based strategies and tools to support decision makers in preparedness and response to disaster-related emergencies. Within the above mentioned international frameworks, we designed and implemented an interoperable ICT-based spatial data infrastructure (SDI) and related Web services called SIRENE—Sistema Informativo per la Preparazione e la Risposta alle Emergenze (Information System for Emergency Preparedness and Response) to support local disaster managers to anticipate, cope with, resist against, and recover from the impacts of natural hazard-induced disasters (debris flows, landslides, floods, and wildfire, among others). Improving their decision-making tasks was identified as the primary aim of the SDI This goal was accomplished by incorporating five principles: (1) plan in advance preventive and mitigation measures to reduce the effects of unexpected and adverse events; (2) anticipate, as far as possible, the demand for disaster relief operations; (3) enhance the knowledge of local managers on procedures and methods of intervention in order to have a positive control in the aftermath of the disaster (preparedness); (4) organize and manage resources and responsibilities to deal with the emergency; and (5) increase the level of data sharing and communication during the disaster (response).
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