Emergency ResponseEmergency Response

Matt Novinger

Oct. 1, 2008

Matt Novinger

Oct. 1, 2008

Crisis InformaticsCrisis Informatics

The study of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) before, during and after a disaster.

How is it used, how is it not used. How do first responders make use of it to help

victims and recovery. How do the victims of disasters use ICT during

and after a disaster and what are they not able to use.

The study of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) before, during and after a disaster.

How is it used, how is it not used. How do first responders make use of it to help

victims and recovery. How do the victims of disasters use ICT during

and after a disaster and what are they not able to use.

The RESCUE Disaster Portal for Disasters and Emergency Response

The RESCUE Disaster Portal for Disasters and Emergency Response

Who is RESCUE? What is this system

Web based Developed in collaboration with city of

Ontario, CA Multiple, semiautonomous components

Who is RESCUE? What is this system

Web based Developed in collaboration with city of

Ontario, CA Multiple, semiautonomous components

FeaturesFeatures

Situation Summary Announcements / Map annotations Shelter Information Family Reunification Donation Management Press Notifications

Situation Summary Announcements / Map annotations Shelter Information Family Reunification Donation Management Press Notifications

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

DesignDesignPluggable applications

Shared acrossapplications

Crisis AlertingCrisis Alerting

Takes a “starting event”, matches it against a rule engine (or “policy engine”)

Based on the output of the rule engine it formats a message for dissemination and chooses the recipients

Messages can be sent over several mediums Can also send “post disaster customized

alert messages”

Takes a “starting event”, matches it against a rule engine (or “policy engine”)

Based on the output of the rule engine it formats a message for dissemination and chooses the recipients

Messages can be sent over several mediums Can also send “post disaster customized

alert messages”

Family ReunificationFamily Reunification

Allows the posting of and searching for information on missing persons

Also attempts to leverage RESCUE project research in text searching to look for information on missing persons outside of application

Has potential to support approximate keyword queries Michael Smith, Michael Smyth, Michael Smth

Allows the posting of and searching for information on missing persons

Also attempts to leverage RESCUE project research in text searching to look for information on missing persons outside of application

Has potential to support approximate keyword queries Michael Smith, Michael Smyth, Michael Smth

P2P Web ServerP2P Web Server

The authors postulate that during an emergency a web server with critical information on it could be overloaded with requests.

The web server (really technology) they created allows an over loaded web server to distribute its load to the clients trying to access it.

The authors postulate that during an emergency a web server with critical information on it could be overloaded with requests.

The web server (really technology) they created allows an over loaded web server to distribute its load to the clients trying to access it.

P2P Web Server cont.P2P Web Server cont.

• Relies on a project called Flashback, created by a subset of the authors. – “Transported frame

hack” - loads a Java applet in one browser frame to act as a web server / flashback client; the other frame accesses the local Java web server to load the page

P2P Web Server cont.P2P Web Server cont.

Also relies on a technique called “UDP Hole Punching” which uses a known intermediate server to allow two clients behind NATs to communicate with each other

Free trivia: NAT stands for Network Address Translation not Traversal

Also relies on a technique called “UDP Hole Punching” which uses a known intermediate server to allow two clients behind NATs to communicate with each other

Free trivia: NAT stands for Network Address Translation not Traversal

Traffic Event DetectionTraffic Event Detection

Uses a live traffic freed from CalTrans to learn normal traffic pattern

Then detects abnormal peaks or lulls in traffic and reports it appropriately

Useful for planning evacuations and detecting events

Uses a live traffic freed from CalTrans to learn normal traffic pattern

Then detects abnormal peaks or lulls in traffic and reports it appropriately

Useful for planning evacuations and detecting events

Internet Information MonitoringInternet Information Monitoring

Attempts to crawl pre-configured websites looked for information on an unfolding event. The given event is specified with key words.

Has a user interface to allow searching of information retrieved from web sites deemed relevant.

Attempts to crawl pre-configured websites looked for information on an unfolding event. The given event is specified with key words.

Has a user interface to allow searching of information retrieved from web sites deemed relevant.

Related Work - SahanaRelated Work - Sahana

Originally created after the 2004 tsunami that hit Sri Lanka by volunteer developers

Later expanded and generalized for use in any disaster

Currently maintained as an open source product freely available.

Has seen much broader usage than the Disaster Portal: Pakistan, Indonesia, Peru, Myanmar

Originally created after the 2004 tsunami that hit Sri Lanka by volunteer developers

Later expanded and generalized for use in any disaster

Currently maintained as an open source product freely available.

Has seen much broader usage than the Disaster Portal: Pakistan, Indonesia, Peru, Myanmar

Sahana cont.Sahana cont.

Has basically the same functionality the Disaster Portal, but lacks some of the advanced features like searching the web for information on missing persons and the flashback peer to peer web server.

Based on PHP and Perl, not Java Arguably has seen wider use

Has basically the same functionality the Disaster Portal, but lacks some of the advanced features like searching the web for information on missing persons and the flashback peer to peer web server.

Based on PHP and Perl, not Java Arguably has seen wider use

What was this paper missing? What was this paper missing?

Better case study descriptionAnalysis of how well parts of it workedLarger study

What about WebEOCWere features included to use RESCUE products rather than what users really neededWas it a solution looking for a problem? They

did not discuss any user/requirements researchLots of liability concerns not addressed

Thoughts on the system its self? Thoughts on the system its self?

ReferencesReferences

Ford, B., Srisuresh, P., Andkegel, D. Peer-to-peer communication across network address translators. In Proceedings of the 2005 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (Anaheim, CA, Apr. 2005).

Lickfett, J.,Ashish, N.,Mehrotra, S.,Venkatasubramanian, N., Green, J. (2008). The RESCUE Disaster Portal for Disasters and Emergency Response. In Proceedings of the 2008 ISCRAM Conference, Washington DC

Palen, L., Vieweg, S., Sutton, J., Liu, S. and Hughes, A. (2007). Crisis Informatics: Studying Crisis in a Networked World. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on e-Social Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 7-9, 2007. http://ess.si.umich.edu/papers/paper172.pdf.

Deshpande, M., Amit, A., Chang, M., Venkatasubramanian, N., and Mehrotra, S. (2007) Flashback: A Peer-to-Peer Webserver for Handling Flash Crowds IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS).

"Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System." Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sahana_foss_disaster_management_system>.

De Silva, C., Raschid, L., Careem, M., De Silva, R. and Weerawarana, S. (2006). "Sahana: Overview of a Disaster Management System". 2nd International Conference on Information and Automation,

Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Ford, B., Srisuresh, P., Andkegel, D. Peer-to-peer communication across network address translators. In Proceedings of the 2005 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (Anaheim, CA, Apr. 2005).

Lickfett, J.,Ashish, N.,Mehrotra, S.,Venkatasubramanian, N., Green, J. (2008). The RESCUE Disaster Portal for Disasters and Emergency Response. In Proceedings of the 2008 ISCRAM Conference, Washington DC

Palen, L., Vieweg, S., Sutton, J., Liu, S. and Hughes, A. (2007). Crisis Informatics: Studying Crisis in a Networked World. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on e-Social Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 7-9, 2007. http://ess.si.umich.edu/papers/paper172.pdf.

Deshpande, M., Amit, A., Chang, M., Venkatasubramanian, N., and Mehrotra, S. (2007) Flashback: A Peer-to-Peer Webserver for Handling Flash Crowds IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS).

"Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System." Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sahana_foss_disaster_management_system>.

De Silva, C., Raschid, L., Careem, M., De Silva, R. and Weerawarana, S. (2006). "Sahana: Overview of a Disaster Management System". 2nd International Conference on Information and Automation,

Colombo, Sri Lanka.