Towards Effective Use of Technology-Enabled Systems in Emergency Management and Crisis Situations

Abstract

Natural and human-made disasters such as floods, epidemics, and terrorist attacks pose significant threats to societies worldwide. To minimize causalties during disaster situations and respond effectively, those involved in disaster management depend on information. Research acknowledges widely that impediments to information access and diffusion can lead to a number of failures, such as inappropriate resource allocation, late warning, delayed evacuations, and counterproductive prioritization of sequential relief operations. These failures, in turn, can exacerbate a crisis escalation and even lead to higher numbers of causalties during disaster response. This is why effective use of emergency management information systems (EMIS) is crucial in disaster management. EMIS make it possible to store, visualize, distribute, and access disaster-related information; they enable digital representations of event-specific data and support information exchange among individuals involved in disaster management activities at different locations. EMIS include tools such as proprietary response software, databases, and radio equipment; warning systems such as sirens, radio, and warning apps, or open source software. Some EMIS, such as purpose-build systems, can be accessed only by a restricted user group, whereas other systems are publicly available, such as public social media. The support EMIS offer disaster management in providing relevant information and supporting collaboration within the involved user groups make their use critical. However, EMIS make a difference in disaster management only if they are leveraged and integrated effectively in the relevant activities. Effective use of EMIS means they support users such as those from professional emergency response, government agencies, and affected communities and businesses in taking informed actions to respond to a disaster event—which depends highly on accurate, relevant, and timely information. The overall objective of this cumulative dissertation is to help researchers and practitioners obtain a deeper understanding of the potential of EMIS for emergency-related information ex-change and how EMIS can be leveraged effectively. The studies included in this dissertation aim to provide theoretically grounded and empirically verified insights as well as practical rec-ommendations regarding the use of EMIS in disaster management by organizations and the public and how using EMIS can support disaster-related activities.