Summary of a Workshop on Information Technology Research for Crisis Management (1999) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 1-12
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Crisis management an activity encompassing the immediate response to such events, recovery efforts, and mitigation and preparedness efforts to reduce the impact of future crises presents problems of large scale and high complexity (measurable in numbers of people and amount and diversity of data, databases, and applications) , unpredictable nature of the local infrastructure and other capabilities, and urgency.
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As used in this report, the term "crisis management" encompasses activities ranging from the immediate response to mitigation and preparedness efforts that are aimed at reducing the impact of future events and take place over a longer time period.3 The following four, commonly described phases of crisis management are referred to throughout this report: 2The workshop from which this report stems focused largely on civilian crisis management, and most of the examples are related to natural disasters as opposed to such threats as the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists. However, the essential nature of crisis response in all these cases is not dissimilar.
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· Recovery encompasses both short-term activity intended to return annex to the Federal Response Plan, the document that lays out federal agency responsibilities for responding to a crisis (Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
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Information technology contributes to a variety of preparedness efforts. For instance, the software tool HAZUS, a product developed by the National Institute for Building Sciences in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
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Additional command functions, typically carried out by command staff, include disseminating information to media, coordinating with other agencies participating in the response, and ensuring the safety of crisis responders. The incident commander is supported by general staff sections that provide the following functioned 6See, e.g., Emergency Management Institute.
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Crisis Responders Crisis response requires effective delivery to and use of information by many different actors. These crisis responders might be in an incident command post, orchestrating efforts to respond to a disaster, or located in net; intelligence; operations; logistics; plans and policy; and command, control, communications, and computer systems.
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Thus a major objective is providing these jurisdictions with the resources to meet their disaster needs and maintain continuity of government. During the threat of, or in the midst of actual disaster conditions, local authorities must put emergency response plans into immediate operation and take actions required to cope with disaster situations.
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Assignments for other federal agencies, based on their regular functions and capabilities in areas ranging from transportation to health and medical service, are detailed in the Federal Response Plank Federal emergency management activities include administering of natural disaster relief programs and responding to technological and other emergencies requiring federal assistance. Initial requests for federal assistance are normally coordinated with FEMA by state officials unless other, more specific procedures are agreed on and contained in mutually approved contingency plans.
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INTRODUCTION 9 Business Businesses also play an important role in crisis response, due to both self-interest and the significant resources they can bring to bear. Business and industry leaders recognize that mitigation and preparedness measures can make a difference in terms of a company surviving a disaster, a significant positive outcome for a community that depends on its ser
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, water, waste-water, and petroleum pipeline industries, the participation and effective coordination of emergency responses with utilities is critical. Emergency planning assists not only businesses but also the community at large by clearly articulating decision-making authority and identifying successors; identifying actions necessary to protect company property and records during disasters; and providing such things as a listing of critical products and services, contacts with local emergency management officials, and methods to provide and accept goods and services from other companies during a crisis situation.
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An effort thus has been made to explore a range of crisis management activities, including some that have analogues elsewhere in government, such as how government and individual citizens, or government and business, interact. Also, the overall study of which this workshop report is a part more strongly emphasizes the process by which the IT research community can collaborate with the crisis management community and by which IT innovation can be translated into improvements in the technologies and systems used in government.
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. Rather, it examines opportunities for engaging the information technology research and crisis management communities in longer-term research activities of mutual interest and illustrates substantive and process issues relating to collaboration between them.
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