Disaster-affected Region Research Articles

Rapid, iterative design approach for preliminary configuration of a High Altitude, Long Endurance aircraft

This paper presents a rapid iterative design approach, used to develop a preliminary configuration of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which is to perform a High-Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) mission. First, based on a set of requirements, an initial aircraft concept is developed.The rapid iterative design approach revolves around an energy-based flight profile simulation, which is updated with an improved aerodynamic model of the aircraft during every iteration. An aircraft configuration is defined by a set of constant parameters. A corresponding flight profile consists of an altitude and velocity profile, as a function of time. The behaviour of the aircraft is simulated based on the specified flight profile.For sizing the aircraft components exposed to the airstream, the aerodynamic design phase aims to create an airframe which achieves the performance outlined in the flight performance simulation, utilizing the obtained aircraft parameters. Using the geometric data, a 3D-model of the aircraft is created, which is essential for the aircraft’s weight and balance calculations and for determining the airframe shape exposed to the airflow. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation is conducted to obtain the actual aerodynamic characteristics of the airframe. If the performance requirement of the flight performance simulation is not met, another iteration of the aerodynamic design phase is required.The design framework stands out due to its rapid iteration capability, accessibility, and straightforward application, making it particularly advantageous for educational settings in which students engage with aircraft design. The approach aims to offer satisfactory results for an initial aircraft conceptualization.This design framework emerged from the DLR Design Challenge 2023, an annual competition hosted by the German Center for Aerospace Research, where student teams develop preliminary aircraft designs. This years challenge tasked the teams with designing an aircraft system to restore internet coverage over a disaster-affected region. The described approach was used to develop the Sentinel System of the DHBW Ravensburg team. However, the simulation and development process is not limited to applications within this challenge.

Investigating the effects of altruism on consumer preference for food from disaster-affected regions: A case of Japan

Consumer's willingness to donate to support the disaster-affected region is known to be related to altruism. This study examines how consumer preference for food from disaster-affected regions is affected by the degree of consumer's altruism level and identifies the difference in the impacts from such altruism by types of food. A choice experiment was conducted on Japanese consumers and combinations of generalized mixed logit model and latent class analysis were applied on the obtained sample. The study finds that food that is consumed locally like rice tends to be less effective to draw donative attitudes compared to food distributed more widely at the national level. The study also reveals that a luxury good like tuna, which is found to be connected to altruism, is more effective to lure donative consumption toward food from disaster-affected regions. • Effects of altruism on food from the disaster regions are investigated. • A discrete choice experiment is conducted on Japanese consumers. • Generalized mixed logit model and latent class analysis are applied. • Rice is the least affected by altruism. • The effects of altruism become the most visible for tuna.

Ground Vehicle and UAV Collaborative Routing and Scheduling for Humanitarian logistics using Random Walk Based Ant Colony Optimization

A well-planned humanitarian logistics involving rescuing people and providing on-time lifesaving facilities to disaster-affected areas can significantly mitigate the aftermath of disasters. However, damaged bridges and blocked roads can hinder last-mile deliveries in disaster-affected areas by ground vehicles only. So, in this paper, we propose a ground vehicle (GV) and unmanned air vehicle (UAV) collaborative delivery system in such areas. Here, a fleet of homogenous ground vehicles each equipped with a certain number of UAVs is deployed for last-mile deliveries. UAVs make the flight from GVs, deliver to end locations and return to the GV for battery replacement and/or start another flight. The objective of the model is to minimize the total delivery time within UAV flight endurance and payload constraints. Firstly K-means clustering algorithm has been used to cluster the disaster-affected region into different sectors. Then GV_Touring and UAV_Routing have been scheduled using nearest neighbor heuristic to serve ground approachable locations and UAV served locations respectively. Finally, the random walk based ant colony optimization-based (ACS_RW) has been developed to further optimize the overall travel time. Experimentation results show the potential benefits of the proposed algorithm over other available truck-drone collaborative transportation models.

Drone routing and optimization for post-disaster inspection

Aerial drones have received increased attention by humanitarian organizations due to their potential to serve/monitor a disaster-affected region. In this study, we propose a mixed-integer linear programming model for a Heterogeneous Fixed Fleet Drone Routing problem (HFFDRP) that minimizes the post-disaster inspection cost of a disaster-affected area by accounting a number of drone trajectory-specific factors into consideration, such as battery recharging costs, servicing costs, drone hovering, turning, accelerating, cruising, and decelerating costs, and many others. Two heuristic algorithms are proposed, namely, Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) algorithm and Modified Backtracking Adaptive Threshold Accepting (MBATA) algorithm, to solve the largest instances of our proposed optimization model in a reasonable amount of time. Computational results indicate that the proposed MBATA algorithm is capable of producing high-quality solutions consistently within a reasonable amount of time. Finally, a real-life case study is used to visualize and validate the model results and to draw managerial insights that reveal how network design decisions vary with key drone design parameters.

Natural Disaster Resilience Approach (NDRA) to Online Social Networks

Numerous disasters impact people around the world, including floods, cyclones, tsunamis and so on. Disaster resilience (recovery) is a realtime challenge. The research goal of the proposed Natural Disaster Resilience Approach (NDRA) is to fasten and automate disaster resilience within the affected region. Prioritization for saving lives must be provided to the region most affected. Currently almost all people use the Online Social Networks (OSNs) to share their daily activities. Actually only their friends in OSN can note the photos posted by OSN users in the disaster-affected region and in turn can support the friends in need. Our research goal is to conduct speedier and prioritized disaster resilience processes by directly addressing honest disaster help requests from images posted by OSN users. To achieve the above goal, we suggest an approach known as the Natural Disaster Resilience Approach (NDRA). The NDRA is a three-tiered framework: Tier-1: sybil(malicious) user avoidance engine: prevents fake OSN user profile creation; Tier-2: ‘D’- attributed image classifier: determines the originality of the images posted and Tier-3: sybil user prediction: uses an Advanced Sybil Node Prediction Algorithm (ASYNPA) to check the authenticity of the user and priorities for faster resilience requests. In NDRA we use Advogato dataset with 6541 users and 51,127 edges. Ultimately, the comparison is only made between the proposed ASYNPA tier-3 and the existing VoteTrust algorithm, and the graph is plotted against the False Positive (FP) rate, taking into account the precision and recall metrics. Around 99.84% of the expected sybils were confirmed in ASYNPA, which is 3.49% higher than VoteTrust.

Is the willingness to support disaster regions through consumption related to altruism? A discrete choice experiment

In the aftermath of disasters, affected regions typically collect donations to restore and rebuild from the damage. This paper investigates how Japanese consumer decisions about donating to disaster-affected regions through food consumption is influenced by altruism as well as the consumer's trust in the regional government and connection to the disaster-affected region. Incorporating a psychometric altruism index into a discrete choice experiment, this study finds that altruism might play an important role in motivating people to donate to disaster regions. The study also reveals that both trust in the government and bond with an affected region, such as being a fan of the culture, leads to an inclination to donate even to foreign disasters. This suggests that the disaster regions can obtain more recovery donations from foreign sources if they draw cultural interest from abroad and have established trust in the government.

Online optimization of first-responder routes in disaster response logistics

After a disaster, first responders should reach critical locations in the disaster-affected region in the shortest time. However, road network edges can be damaged or blocked by debris. Since response time is crucial, relief operations may start before knowing which edges are blocked. A blocked edge is revealed online when it is visited at one of its end-nodes. Multiple first-responder teams, who can communicate the blockage information, gather initially at an origin node and are assigned to target destinations (nodes) in the disaster-affected area. We consider multiple teams assigned to one destination. The objective is to find an online travel plan such that at least one of the teams finds a route from the origin to the destination in minimum time. This problem is known as the online multi-agent Canadian traveler problem. We develop an effective online heuristic policy and test it on real city road networks as well as randomly generated networks leading to instances with multiple blockages. We compare the performance of the online strategy with the offline optimum and obtain an average competitive ratio of 1.164 over 70,100 instances with varying parameter values.

A Distributed NFV-Enabled Edge Cloud Architecture for ICN-Based Disaster Management Services.

In disaster management services, the dynamic binding between roles and individuals for creating response teams across multiple organizations to act during a disaster recovery time period is an important task. Existing studies have shown that IP-based or traditional telephony solutions are not well-suited to deal with such group communication. Research has also shown the advantages of leveraging information centric networking (ICN) in providing essential communication in disaster management services. However, present studies use a centralized networking architecture for disaster management, in which disaster information is gathered and processed at a centralized management center before incident responses are made and warning messages are sent out. The centralized design can be inefficient in terms of scalability and communication. The reason is that when the network is very large (i.e., country level), the management for disaster services becomes very complicated, with a large number of organizations and offices. Disaster data are required to be transmitted over a long path before reaching the central management center. As a result, the transmission overhead and delay are high. Especially when the network is fragmented and network connectivity from a disaster-affected region to the central management center is disconnected, the service may be corrupted. In this paper, we designed and implemented a distributed edge cloud architecture based on ICN and network function virtualization (NFV) to address the above issues. In the proposed architecture, disaster management functions with predefined disaster templates were implemented at edge clouds closed to local regions to reduce the communication overhead and increase the service availability. The real implementation and performance evaluation showed that the proposed architecture achieves a significant improvement in terms of average bandwidth utilization, disaster notification delivery latency, routing convergence time, and successful request ratio compared to the existing approaches.

Resource mapping during a natural disaster: A case study on the 2015 Nepal earthquake

Any major natural disaster, such as an earthquake, is accompanied by an urgent need for various types of resources in the disaster-affected region, which primarily includes medical resources, human resources, and infrastructural resources. How quickly this need for resources can be satisfied might critically determine the extent of damage and human casualties in the aftermath of the disaster. Hence, knowledge about what type of resources are usually needed in the aftermath of a disaster is important for responding organizations for planning formative solutions, to be better prepared to mitigate any upcoming disaster. The goal of this study is to curate the resource needs during a major disaster – the earthquake in Nepal and parts of India in April 2015. This work has been carried out in association with Doctors For You (DFY), a humanitarian organization of medical professionals who work in various disasters-affected regions. A large set of WhatsApp messages exchanged among DFY members who were working in the disaster-affected areas of Nepal was collected and analyzed to identify the different resource requirements and the corresponding delay in the mobilization of such resources. The study revealed detailed phase-wise requirement of various types of resources and also suggested that for several resources, there was a significant delay between the requirement and the actual availability of the resources. The acumens from this study will not only help disaster risk management in Nepal but also help in preparedness planning in other earthquake-prone regions of the world.

Drones for disaster response and relief operations: A continuous approximation model

This paper proposes a Continuous Approximation (CA) model that designs the potentiality of drones as a mode of transportation to supply emergency commodities in a disaster-affected region. The model determines the optimal distribution center locations and their corresponding service regions and ordering quantities to minimize the overall distribution cost for the disaster-relief operation. We propose a two-phase CA approach that solves the model efficiently. We conduct extensive sensitivity analysis to reveal insights into how system design varies with key drone design parameters. We use three disaster-prone coastal counties of Mississippi as a testbed to visualize and validate the modeling results.

Effects of social participation and the emergence of voluntary social interactions on household power-saving practices in post-disaster Kanagawa, Japan

An online social survey was conducted to reveal household electricity-saving behaviour and its relationship with participation in social group activities, as well as face-to-face and online social interactions, i.e., information sources used and information dissemination through personal networks, in a disaster-affected region of Kanagawa, Japan, during the summer of 2011. The study confirms the positive contribution of respondents’ participation in social group activities to the number of power-saving practices conducted. It also reveals the emergence of voluntary social face-to-face and/or online interactions for power-saving. The study suggests it would be useful to provide effective information to proactive individuals who are closely engaged in power-saving in households and who are proactively disseminating power-saving information practices to others. Such individuals include (1) women who have school-children and who are proactively engaging in the social interactions of their children’s schools, other parents, neighbours, as well as their own parents and relatives; and (2) men and women who are using various kinds of online interaction tools and are also engaged in face-to-face social interactions.

被災地における回復期リハビリテーション病棟からの報告

被災地における回復期リハビリテーション病棟からの報告

The Effectiveness of Post-Disaster Recovery Marketing Messages—The Case of the 2009 Australian Bushfires

ABSTRACT An understanding of how best to communicate with the tourism market in the wake of a disastrous event is essential for destination marketing organizations seeking to manage the misperceptions and media-imposed attitudes held by potential visitors. To date, the literature remains silent in terms of the types of messages destination marketing organizations are best to employ when a disaster has hit and consequently marketers often take an “ad hoc” approach to their post-disaster communications that may or may not be effective in terms of encouraging visitation. In response to this knowledge gap, the research presented in this article adopted an experimental methodology to examine the effectiveness of nine disaster recovery message themes commonly used by destination marketing organizations. The messages were presented to respondents via a print advertisement promoting the Victorian region of Gippsland—a tourism region severely affected by the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires. The results revealed that a marketing message endorsed by a well-known and well-associated celebrity figure is likely to be most effective in encouraging tourists to return to or visit a disaster-affected destination 12 to 24 months following the event. The findings also revealed a significant relationship between past visitation and the time frame in which visitors will visit a disaster-affected region. Those who had visited the region four times or more were much more likely to return within 6 months of the event than less frequent visitors. A final important message revealed in this study was the fact that the tourism market is not averse to disaster recovery promotional activities, a concern often considered by destination marketers when planning their post-disaster recovery campaigns.

PÅ SIKKER GRUND: Genhusning efter tsunamien i Tamil Nadu

This article explores the various meanings ascribed to destroyed, repaired and
 newly constructed houses in the South Indian fi shing village of Tharangambadi
 which was heavily affected by the tsunami disaster in December 2004. The article
 focuses on re-housing both as implemented by authorities and as understood by
 the survivors, thereby investigating divergent notions of danger and safety. The
 overall argument is that re-housing as a spatial practice is a much more comprehensive
 process than the mere shift of locality from a disaster-prone area to a
 safe area. By looking at practices of re-housing and the ways in which both old
 and new houses are engaged with and appropriated, it becomes clear that what is
 at stake for the survivors in Tharangambadi is a general attempt at establishing
 a sense of control over the physical surroundings, the trust in which was temporarily
 ruined by the tsunami. The article shows how in a disaster-affected region
 the sense of inhabiting a safe ground is dependent on something other and more
 than solid walls.
 Keywords: Catastrophy, security, hominess, materiality.

Impact of Facility Damages on Hospital Capacities for Decision Support in Disaster Response Planning for an Earthquake

Hospitals provide life-saving functions and emergency assistance to communities when disaster strikes. Any damage to hospitals from a disaster, either structural and non-structural, can impair these capabilities. In addition, an inaccurate estimation of the treatment capacities available at hospitals in a disaster-affected region can severely affect the success of emergency relief plans. In this paper, the impact of facility damage on hospital operations is estimated using a generic simulation model. From the simulation results, parametric models are developed for estimating hospitals' capacities and patient waiting times that could be used by emergency response teams in making casualty dispatching/routing decisions.

Estimation of the Economic Loss in Industrial Sectors Caused by the 2004 Mid-Niigata Earthquake

In this paper, methodological development are attempted to survey and estimate the economic loss of industrial sect or in the disaster-affected region. In specialty, double counting problem of direct and indirect economic loss are focused on, which is pointed out but not much investigated in the previous works. As a result, it is theoretically shown that the sum of profit loss and recovery cost in each anonymous term can be the consistent measure of economic loss avoiding the double cou nting problem. The methodology is applied to the economic loss survey in the mid-niigata region, which was damaged by th e serious damage, and total economic loss in the region was estimated.

Measuring Quality of Human Community Life by Spatial-Temporal Age Group Distributions—Case Study of Recovery Process in a Disaster-Affected Region

This study proposes an effective method of measuring the quality of a community, calculated from spatial-temporal age group distributions. For this purpose, niche indices, which are used in ecology, are employed as measurement techniques and are interpreted in terms of safety and communication. Traditional indices are examined theoretically by using spatial statistics and are shown to be essentially identical. This paper also proposes a special niche index for disaster risk evaluation. From the fact-finding studies in Kobe City, Japan, which was severely damaged by the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, it is inferred that the niche index may possibly pertain to damage reduction. Further, community health in the recovery process in the Nagata Ward, Kobe City is evaluated by using the niche indices and related statistical tests. The results show that the quality of the community deteriorated after the disaster even in the area where the building recovery speed was relatively rapid.