Publications

Improving Disaster Management: The Role of IT in Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery This report examines information technology's as-yet unrealized potential to improve how communities and the nation handle disasters and describes payoffs for disaster management that include more robust and interoperable communications, improved situational awareness and decision support, greater organizational agility, and enhanced engagement of the public.

Summary of a Workshop on Using Information Technology to Enhance Disaster Management This report summarizes remarks at a June 22-23, 2005, workshop by representatives of federal, state, and local government agencies, private industry, and the research community on the present state of the art and practice and future opportunities to harness information technology to aid in the management of natural and human-made disasters.

Project Scope

The aftermath of the recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico has dramatically heightened awareness of the role of effective communications in managing such disasters. The NRC is in the process of studying this issue for FEMA as a result of language that appeared in the E-government Act of 2002. The study is examining the use of information technology (IT) to enhance preparedness, response, and consequence management of natural and human caused disasters.

In the first phase of this study, a workshop was held June 22-23, 2005, to provide an information base from the perspective of federal, state, and local officials, diaster management experts, and information technology researchers. The workshop, and the committee's report summarizing it, focuses on the critical and evolving role of and research directions for IT in disaster management; and on collaboration, coordination, and interoperability issues.

In phase 2 of its study, the committee will supplement the inputs received at the workshop with information gathered at several site visits and a series of additional briefings. The committee received additional briefings and conducted a site visit at its September 20-21, 2005, meeting in Washington, D.C, followed by an initial round of deliberations on conclusions and recommendations. Additional meetings to include briefings, site visits, and committee deliberations are scheduled for Dec. 12-14, 2005 (San Diego, Ca.), January 26-27, 2005 (Irvine, Ca.), and May 1-3 (Washington, D.C.). Phase 2 will culminate in the NRC’s final report, to be released in Fall 2006, that provides findings and recommendations on requirements for effective use of information technology for disaster management, research and development needs and opportunities, and related research management and technology transition considerations.

Committee Members