Tech in Disaster Management: Its Meaning, Types, Impact and Recovery

 

Several calamities significantly affecting land, property, and civilian lives are tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, and landslides. An article estimates that in 2022, natural disasters will cost the US economy over $165 billion. In September 2022, Tropical Storm Ian caused around $113 billion in damages.

What is Disaster Management?

The goals of disaster management and recovery activities are to strengthen adaptability, reduce the overall impact of the occurrence, and decrease the risks linked to disasters. There are three primary stages of disaster management and recovery:

1. The steps are done in advance to get ready for a disaster.

2. The steps are done in line with the reaction plan during a disaster.

3. The post-disaster measures that are particular to recovery and relief.

All three stages share certain similarities. They have a human element first, which concentrates on the plan and reaction of one or more stages. For example, human intelligence, experience, insight, and talent are used to construct hurricane response strategies.

Understanding Disaster Management

However, when considering disasters over an extended period, their full impact becomes much more apparent. The National Centers for Environmental Information states that since 1980, 341 occurrences—roughly eight annually—have been classified as disasters. So far, these occurrences have resulted in 15,821 deaths and almost $2.4 trillion value of damages.

Many organizations and government sectors are speeding up their emergency preparation efforts in light of the financial and mortality rate impacts of disasters. This includes developing and putting into action an efficient plan for disaster communication. Technology will continue to be essential to disaster recovery and management, helping first responders do their duties more effectively while reducing the number of injuries.

Types of Disasters

Since there are a variety of types of disasters, states, towns, and entire regions need to be ready for a wide range of potential outcomes. This is referred to as the National Preparedness Goal by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). According to FEMA, the following disaster categories present the highest risk:

• Natural disasters: 

These can include landslides, tsunamis, typhoons, hailstorms, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, wildfires, droughts, floods, and storms brought on by climate change. The intensity of naturally occurring events is tracked, predicted, and estimated using specialized techniques and technologies.

• Cyberattacks: 

These could be attacks on information technology systems that result in dangers to public safety and national security as well as breakdowns of the banking system, the power grid, connectivity issues, and the loss of vital infrastructure systems.

• Terrorist attacks: 

Weapons of mass destruction, homemade fireworks, and sophisticated technology designed to kill people and cause fear are all common tools used by terrorist cells and lone individuals to threaten the country. Technology and human resources are used in counterterrorism strategies to identify and address terrorist threats.

• Human-made hazards: 

These are risks brought on by carelessness, mistakes, avoidable mistakes, or cruelty. Pollution, fire, protests, violent crime, domestic terrorism, industrial or technological errors, and interruptions in the provision of food, water, travel, and communication services are a few examples.

• Chemical spills: 

Unplanned and uncontrollably releasing hazardous chemicals into the environment can have negative effects on soil, oxygen, wildlife, and people. For example, the town was impacted by almost 1.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals after a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, recently. 

There are currently many different kinds of devices and software available to deal with chemical spills.

• Pandemics of disease: 

In addition to the financial burden that they impose on a country, infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and its variations, pandemic-level influenza, and others can claim millions of lives. Moreover, animals are subjected to certain infectious diseases.

Complex emergencies are defined as disasters that involve both naturally occurring and man-made aspects. Population relocation, civil warfare, epidemics, food insecurity, negative impacts on the economy and/or society, and breakdowns in civil authority are examples of complex emergencies.

Technology in Disaster Management

In different stages of disaster preparation and response, responders, scientists, and analysts use a variety of gear, software, and resources that are part of emergency management and tools for disaster recovery.

1. Seismograph

During an earthquake, ground motion is recorded using a seismograph. Earthquakes are currently more likely to happen than a lot of other naturally occurring disasters. Predictions, however, can be estimated using data, probabilities, and projections that take into account the region's seismic activity together with other mathematical considerations.

2. Tropical Cyclone and Hurricane Advanced Forecasting

Utilizing technology, forecasting instruments, and methods of observation is essential for predicting and weathering storms and tropical cyclones. The size, structure, severity, expected landfall, and route of an event can all be predicted with the help of these tools.

The National Hurricane Center gathers data to track and forecast storms using boats, radar, ships, airplanes used for surveillance, satellites, and land-based platforms. In contrast, satellites that are positioned near the ocean are used to track and forecast tropical cyclones. 

People can better prepare their houses, safeguard their belongings, and evacuate if required thanks to advanced warning technology.

3. Network Sensor System

Sensor network systems, which are used to monitor activity in roads and bridges, offer constant data about the integrity of the infrastructure in question as well as surrounding factors that may have an impact on it, including rising water levels related to floods.

Authorities can do real-time analysis on sensor-equipped infrastructure thanks to these network systems. They are also considered disaster recovery technologies since they can offer information about compromised infrastructure, which is essential for figuring out which roads and bridges are safe to travel on.

4. CAMEO

A collection of environmental software tools called the Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations program aids in the planning and handling of various chemical and oil-related crises. CAMEO is regarded as one of the most extensive works.

5. GNOME

Software used in the event of an oil or hazardous chemical spill is called GNOME, or General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment. To control pollutants, it employs advanced modeling to forecast their movement and dispersion on water.

6. ALOHA

Pollutant tracking is a feature shared by GNOME and ALOHA, or Real Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres. It estimates estimate of the potential airborne movement of pollutants and toxins once they are released. This essential knowledge gives time for those in the route of the airborne toxin to get ready or escape.

7. Coffee Shop

Responders and analysts can determine the potential extent of damage an oil or chemical spill may cause to marine life by using the Chemical Aquatic Fate and Effects software application.

8. ESI maps

Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps show a list of the coastal resources that might be endangered in the event of an oil or chemical spill.

9. ROC

Software called the ROC Response Options Calculator forecasts how oil spills may deteriorate and vary over time. It also gives information on the amount of oil that, depending on the circumstances, may be burned, processed, or retrieved.

10. Digital Reality

Making certain that responders are equipped with the necessary training to manage high-stress circumstances is an essential component of disaster preparation. Up until recently, there weren't many options available; most of them concentrated on developing realistic exercises and emergency training scenarios.

11. Telemedicine

With the advent of COVID-19, telemedicine emerged as a useful tool for hospitals and healthcare facilities to slow the disease's spread by providing primary care services from a distance. In addition, advanced chatbots were developed that could offer an initial evaluation to patients based just on the symptoms they disclosed.

12. DEXTER

DEXTER, which stands for "detection of explosives and firearms to counter-terrorism," is an innovative method for finding weapons and explosives in busy public spaces like airports, subway stations, and venues with lots of people inside.

13. Applications for Mobile

A key element of technology used in disaster emergency management and preparation has been mobile applications. Several free smartphone apps related to disaster warnings and response are available from the American Red Cross. More than thirty configurable weather alerts, safety advice, and helpful information for fourteen crises and disasters are available to the public.

14. Social Networks

In the last ten years or more, social media has become an increasingly important tool for disaster monitoring, response, and recovery. For example, Facebook maintains a page dedicated to natural disasters that provides news and updates on evolving circumstances.

15. Systems for Disaster Database Management

These computer systems are devoted to the storing, processing, and retrieval of data related to disasters, which can be utilized to build disaster information software and networks.

16. Drones

Drones Before dispatching human emergency response teams to affected areas following earthquakes or other disasters, drone technology has shown to be a useful tool for damage assessment.

17. GPS monitoring

First responders can be kept out of the direct line of a tragedy by employing GPS tracking, such as a firestorm. Cars equipped with GPS tracking systems can display which highways and roads are safe to travel on and which have been compromised.

Conclusion

The use of technology in disaster management has completely changed how we prevent, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and geographic information systems are examples of advanced technologies that improve the accuracy of early warning systems and disaster prediction, enabling rapid resource allocation and evacuation. 

To determine damage and coordinate relief operations, real-time data is provided via drones and satellite photography, while social media and mobile applications help to improve communication between impacted communities and authorities.