Technology and Information Sharing in Disaster Relief.

Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo,Benedikte Bjerge,Nathan Clark,Emmanuel Raju,Peter Fisker

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161783

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the extent to which technological advances can enhance inter-organizational information sharing in disaster relief. Our case is the Virtual OSOCC (On-Site Operations Coordination Centre) which is a part of the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) under the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). The online platform, which has been developing for more than a decade, provides a unique insight into coordination behaviour among disaster management agencies and individual actors. We build our study on the analysis of a complete database of user interaction including more than 20,000 users and 11,000 comments spread across approximately 300 disaster events. Controlling for types and severities of the events, location-specific vulnerabilities, and the overall trends, we find that the introduction of new features have led to increases in user activity. We supplement the data-driven approach with evidence from semi-structured interviews with administrators and key users, as well as a survey among all users specifically designed to capture and assess the elements highlighted by both interviews and data analysis.

Highlights

The exchange of relevant information is critical in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster
This paper examines the impact of specific changes to the technological architecture and functionality of the Virtual On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) on user activity and the amount of information shared over time
Our analysis showed that changes in the IT based platform of the Virtual OSOCC did facilitate easier use of the system by users, which, subsequently led to an increase in the amount of information that was shared

Summary

Introduction

The exchange of relevant information is critical in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster. The disorder of inter-organizational information sharing in this period often leads to overlapping initiatives and the extensive mismanagement of resources, which is in turn linked to the loss of lives and livelihoods on the ground This is clear from reports following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake ([1];[2];[3]). Information communication technologies (ICTs) in particular are changing the way stakeholders communicate and share data within and across borders during crises. Web portals such as ReliefWeb and HumanitarianResponse.info continue to provide up-to-date status reports about ongoing emergencies.

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