Managing Disasters and Emergencies

Floods, fires, industrial and transport accidents ... natural and manmade disasters can have a devastating effect on individuals, communities, the environment and the economy. Advanced Information and Communication Technologies can both prevent disasters and help rebuild.

Overview ¦ Example Projects

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Using computer simulations to understand more about tsunamis
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Climate-related natural disasters - floods, landslides, storms and forest fires - are increasing in frequency and magnitude. Other hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and industrial disasters, also represent an increasing threat as urban areas spread. Not to mention terrorist attacks on civilian targets.

Whatever the source, disaster situations trigger relief operations, with mobile workers from different organisations converging on what can be a confusing and even dangerous scene. Efficient coordination and communication between them, sometimes across European borders, is absolutely vital: they need real-time information on everything from the local geology to the regional electricity grid, from the presence of medical teams to the absence of airfields.

This cross-team, cross-border communication would be difficult enough in normal circumstances, but these relief workers are working in a disaster zone: damaged transport and communications systems, unavailable electricity and water supplies and more are par for the course.

Better ICTs could save lives in situations such as these. They can also reduce the risk of disaster in the first place by better predicting risks, and make the transport sector safer (see the Transport theme).

Further Details and Quicklinks

Policies
Activities
See Also

Relevant Policies

i2010: one of the i2010's three pillars is to foster Inclusion, better public services and quality of life through ICTs
- Disaster Mitigation is therefore one of the three action lines of the ICTs and Sustainable Development flagship, currently under preparation
Europe's Radio Spectrum Policy helps coordinate the use of radio spectrum, a vital resource for emergency management applications as diverse as satellite-based monitoring and mobile communications;
Wider Context: the UN's Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) outlines the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and foresees an important role for "information, communication and space-based technologies";

Relevant Activities

ICT Research: see the Research & Innovation theme for an introduction, browse some relevant Example Projects, or jump straight to the following relevamt research sites:

Mobility, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency (FP7 research, 2007-2013): includes providing access to shared data infrastructures and data management systems to monitor and react to environmental risks. Systems which will have the capacity to assess population exposure and health risks, to alert targeted groups and to organise efficient responses."
Grids (FP6 research, 2002-2006): advanced computer systems offering the best way to capture, process, analyse and model the diverse data produced by systems such as Galileo and GMES (see below);

Other Activities:

Galileo satellite navigation system: when launched by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2006-2008, Galileo will have a substantial impact in the field of search and rescue applications.
Global Monitoring Environment and Security: GMES is strengthening the EU's ability to acquire and integrate high-quality environmental data with geographical and socio-economic information - essential to both spotting disaster risks and providing data to rescue teams
INSPIRE - INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe: ensuring cross border compatibility of environmental and other spatial data, and thus helping coordinate emergency response at the EU level;

See Also

From the Safety Newsroom and Library:

Early Warning Systems for Geo-Physical Hazards (31 January 2006)
News: Space observation to improve risk management of landslides, avalanches and floods in Alpine regions (20 June 2005)
Information Society research supporting rescue forces, crisis management and collaboration in ad-hoc environments, like natural catastrophes 17 January 2005
For the latest relevant news, publications and more from the Newsroom & Library, see right hand column, or select Quality of Life when you subscribe to the Portal Newsroom Update;

In addition:

ICTs can make the transport sector safer - see the Transport theme

Last Updated March 2007