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• Response & recovery resources should be harnessed and packaged to suit the
needs of professionals working in various areas of disaster
The hazard and vulnerability assessments and mapping mitigation. The information is generated in various formats
components of a DMIS are the cornerstone of and it is necessary to mobilize them systematically to
preparedness planning as well as planning and fulfill the information requirements.
implementation of a mitigation program. All data is of
critical use in the preparedness plan as well as in the actual Categories of Resources
response operations. It must be recognized that the • Textbooks / Monographs
development of these databases in country has to be built • Journal articles
bottom up from the lowest administrative unit in country • Educational aids/training materials
i.e. the sub-district and district corresponding to the level • Public interest promotional literature
of the disaster preparedness plan. The district databases • Audio-visual resources
would feed into the state/provincial database and then into • Research / Survey reports
the national database.
10. EXISTING INFORMATION/
8. NEED FOR EFFECTIVE DISASTER EDUCATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM INDIA
A very important step in effective management of disasters
A. Select Institutes of Disaster Management
is bridging the information gap. Libraries play a very
1. National Disaster Management Institute, New
important role in achieving this by harnessing and
Delhi, an apex institute set up by the Indian Institute
disseminating information resources. Developing an
of Public Administration and the Center for Disaster
efficient disaster management information system is an
Management
important stage in planning for disaster preparedness.
2. Disaster Management Institute, Bhopal, setup after
the Bhopal tragedy, 1984
A. Proactive information
3. National Information Center of Earthquake
Following the dictum prevention is better than cure; people
Engineering (NICEE) - IIT Kanpur, with an
should be empowered with information at the pre-disaster
exclusive focus on information related to
level for disaster preparedness.
earthquakes
• Identification of zones which are prone to
4. All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI),
earthquakes, floods etc., within which safer location
Ahmedabad
for hospitals etc.
• awareness regarding use of non- eco friendly B. Resources / Databases
materials (use of plastic bags in Mumbai) 1. The database of book collection of the NICEE,
• need for preservation of ecological balance Kanpur is available at
(prevention of the destruction of mangrove http://nicee.org/NICEE/acquisitions. html
stretches) 2. A web resource giving detailed information on 10
disaster prone states of India,
B. During a disaster http://managedisasters.org/
• messaging 3. A web portal on disaster management
• warning / alerting systems http://www.sristi.org/dmis.html,
• help lines to contact 4. A knowledge network on disaster management
• alert regarding health hazards created by the Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India. Can be accessed only by
C. Post Disaster users authorized by Government of India,
• information on various rehabilitation activities http://www.idrn.gov.in/
• documentation of the details of the incident and the
mitigation undertaken C. Database of Print literature
• drawing future plans for prevention of disaster 1. Bibliographic database of books/monographs
2. Digitized full text databases of published documents
9. KINDS OF RESOURCES wherever possible with due opyright compliance
3. Articles from scholarly journals
At each of the three stages mentioned above, the 4. Newspaper clippings
concerned personnel need different levels of information. 5. Promotional /Awareness material
It is necessary to make the relevant information resources 6. Research / Survey reports
accessible to them at the appropriate time. Information 7. Government reports
8. Case studies tools in the social media toolbox offer both opportunities
9. Training materials and challenges for local government. Social media include
10. Grey literature (unpublished research literature to be social networking applications such as Facebook™ and
obtained through coordination with research Google+™, micro blogging services such as Twitter™,
organizations, NGOs) blogs, wikis, and media sharing sites such as YouTube™
and Flickr™. Social media is considered to be a part of the
D. Audio visual materials Web 2.0 movement, which is characterized by user-
1. Cartographic resources (showing locations of generated content, online identity creation, and relational
different types of hazard zones, safe zones) networking. Social media has a particularly appealing
2. Video tapes (visuals of the incidents, rescue potential for e-participation. According to a research
operations; videos for training) conducted by Sensis2 in 2012 - Facebook dominates as the
3. CD ROMs most used social networking site, being used by 97% of
4. Database of emergency services (fire stations, social networking participants or 6 out of 10 Internet users.
ambulance services) This was unchanged in the past year. Facebook is used by
more than 95% of social media users from both sexes and
E. Other Support Databases at least 93% in all age groups. LinkedIn was the next most
1. Experts/consultants/volunteers in disaster popular social media platform, being used by 16% of
management. social networking users, up from 9% last year. Twitter was
2. Organisations working for disaster mitigation. used by 14% of social networking site users, up from 8%
3. Education/training centers last year, and Google+ was used by 8%.
Tasks ahead for the clearing house to achieve the Social Media in Natural Disasters
objectives can be analyzed as under: Online social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,
Google+, etc. can act and try to solve many problems
Infrastructure during natural disasters. During disasters all the
Provision of state-of-the-art hardware, software,and conventional communications generally stop functioning.
communication technology. At this time social media or networking sites can stay
active. Online social networks allow the establishment of
Databases global relationships that are domain related or can be based
Compulsive efforts are to be undertaken to coordinate and on some need shared by the participants. Conducted
acquire comprehensive data on disaster management in research has found that though the use of mobile phones
varied formats, the various databases. The data acquired and email did predictably increase in the immediate
has to be organized into a proper structure to facilitate aftermath of the earthquake the use of social networking
efficient search/retrieval. The center should formulate sites also increased and even surpassed the use of more
common standards for creation of data, which will conventional methods of communication such as fixed
facilitate exchange of data between various organizations. phones (yahoo news 2011). Apart from the use of major
Creation of full text databases should take care of public social networking services, many companies
copyright law compliance. It is further necessary to have actively used their own secured corporate social
secure backup of the various databases to meet any networking services after disasters to confirm the safety of
emergency situations, in the form of CDs, parallel servers / employees As with any new technology, there remain
mirror sites etc. many hurdles between current use and optimal exploitation
of social media (Merchant, 2011).
Dissemination of data
Appropriate, reliable, communication channels should be During a natural disaster, social media can play a vital role
planned and established to disseminate the information connecting citizens to emergency response agencies; in
during disaster. The emphasis should be on research and fact through people’s widespread use of Facebook and
documentation on the quickest method of access to Twitter, people are beginning to expect it. In a 2010 study
information in times of disaster. by the Red Cross, three-fourths of respondents indicated
they would expect an emergency response agency to
11. SOCIAL NETWORKING respond within an hour of posting a call for help on a
social media platform. That same study showed Facebook
Over the past 10 years social media has changed the way and Twitter as the platforms of choice when it came to
people communicate with each other, and interact with receiving and posting information relating to citizens’
governments. It provides the ability for users to connect safety during an emergency.
with each other and form communities to socialize, share
information, or to achieve a common goal or interest. The Emergency support organizations such as the Red Cross
steady growth of social media and the ever changing list of also maintain Twitter accounts and use them to propogate
12. CONCLUSION
Prevention is better than cure; people should be
empowered with information at the pre-disaster, during
disaster and post-disaster level for disaster preparedness.
Therefore more information centres are required and the
existing information centres are to be well equipped
updated with latest information sources for effective and
efficient handling of disaster prone situations created by
either the man made hazardous or natural hazards.
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