Emergency Response

Natural disasters are becoming more and more prominent in our world today, increasing by over 400% in the last 20 years alone. To overcome the challenges brought about by such situations, it has been proven vital to ensure continued and effective communication. Unfortunately, however, this has often been difficult with network failures commonplace, particularly during large-scale emergencies, e.g. earthquakes. Within this article, we explore the potential of information-centric networks (ICNs) to provision highly resilient communications during disaster scenarios. We first provide background to the area, before highlighting the key characteristics of ICNs that are well suited to augmenting resilience in the domain. Following this, we explore remaining challenges of note, concluding that, despite its potential, several key obstacles must be overcome before a truly resilient ICN can be realised.

Despite their importance for urban planning [1], traffic forecasting [2], and the spread of biological [3, 4, 5] and mobile viruses [6], our understanding of the basic laws governing human motion remains limited thanks to the lack of tools to monitor the time resolved location of individuals. Here we study the trajectory of 100, 000 anonymized mobile phone users whose position is tracked for a six month period. We find that in contrast with the random trajectories predicted by the prevailing Lévy flight and random walk models [7], human trajectories show a high degree of temporal and spatial regularity, each individual being characterized by a time independent characteristic length scale and a significant probability to return to a few highly frequented locations. After correcting for differences in travel distances and the inherent anisotropy of each trajectory, the individual travel patterns collapse into a single spatial probability distribution, indicating that despite the diversity of their travel history, humans follow simple reproducible patterns. This inherent similarity in travel patterns could impact all phenomena driven by human mobility, from epidemic prevention to emergency response, urban planning and agent based modeling. Given the many unknown factors that influence a population's mobility patterns, ranging from means of transportation to job and family imposed restrictions and priorities, human trajectories are often approximated with various random walk or diffusion models [7, 8]. Indeed, early measurements on albatrosses, bumblebees, deer and monkeys [9, 10] and more recent ones on marine predators [11] suggested that animal trajectory is approximated by a Lévy flight [12, 13], a random walk whose step size ∆r follows a power-law distribution P (∆r) ∼ ∆r −(1+β) with β < 2. While the Lévy statistics for some animals require further study [14], Brockmann et al. [7] generalized this finding to humans, documenting that the distribution of distances between consecutive sight

During a disastrous earthquake, the early assessment and timely reporting of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) maps will be crucial in an effective emergency response operation. In this study, we first derive an empirical relationship between M L and M W . The PGA and PGV attenuation relationships are deduced with data from the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP) and the Taiwan Rapid Earthquake Information Release System (TREIRS). Site corrections of the attenuation relationships for shallow and large earthquakes in Taiwan region are also obtained. Peak values of earthquake strong ground motion can be well determined in Taiwan as soon as the earthquake location is determined, and magnitudes are calculated by the TREIRS. This peak ground motion value information can be immediately turned into the calculated PGA and PGV maps that can be issued within two minutes of the earthquake origin time. During any disastrous earthquake, these maps are found to be very useful for immediate seismic damage assessment and dispatching of emergency response missions.

Purpose: The main objective of this study is to develop a tsunami emergency response plan for a coastal community by adopting a community-based disaster preparedness approach. Design/methodology/approach: A multi-strategy research design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods was used. The weaknesses and strengths of the different agencies involved in responding to the 2004 tsunami disaster were identified through a focus group discussion. A survey was used to assess the preparedness of the community. Tsunami awareness and education were imparted through lectures, sermons, radio talk shows, informal briefings, workshops and printed materials. Tsunami evacuation routes, safe zones, warning protocols and evacuation plans were finalized through a consultation process with the community. A tsunami evacuation plan was verified during a table-top exercise and was tested through a drill. Findings: It is evident from the study that a community-based approach (where the local community is taken as the primary focus of attention in disaster reduction) to tsunami mitigation and preparedness is viable. This process has provided an opportunity for tapping traditional organizational structures and mechanisms (including formal and informal community leaders) and capability-building activities with the community disaster committees and volunteers. Originality/value: Tsunami 2004 is the first ever tsunami disaster experienced in the country and thus the study provides significant lessons learned from the event. The community-based approach to disaster preparedness is not the current practice in the country. Thus, the study demonstrates that the approach is a viable tool to enhance community preparedness to tsunami and other types of disasters as well.

The earthquake of the 9th of July 1998 that hit in the central group of the Azores archipelago greatly affected the islands of Faial, Pico and São Jorge, reaching a magnitude of Mw 6.2 with the epicentre located about 15km northeast of the Faial Island. This earthquake allowed the collection of an unprecedented quantity of data concerning the characterisation of the building stock and the damage suffered by construction. This is the main purpose of this research, consisting essentially of three main aspects: (i) A detailed characterisation of the building stock, assigning a five category classification, from old traditional rubble stone masonry to reinforced concrete moment framed buildings; (ii) A detailed damage grade classification based on the different damage mechanisms observed; and, (iii) A seismic vulnerability assessment of the building stock. The results of the vulnerability assessment together with the building stock database and damage classification were integrated into a GIS tool, allowing the spatial visualation of damage scenarios, which is potentially useful for the planning of emergency response strategies and retrofitting priorities to mitigate and manage seismic risk.

The authors report on a patient who used electronic mail to report satisfactory recovery from ambulatory surgery and anesthesia. The potential benefits and pitfalls of using electronic mail for patient follow-up and communication, as well as research purposes, are reviewed. Potential benefits include cost savings, ease in collecting quality improvement data, and the potential for increased reporting of unpleasant events. Potential pitfalls include lack of universal access (with racial and socioeconomic differentials), privacy and security concerns, and potential slow responses to messages that might require emergent responses or actions.

In 2006, Mexico became the first transition country to transfer part of its public-sector natural catastrophe risk to the international reinsurance and capital markets. The Mexican case is of considerable interest to highly exposed transition and developing countries, many of which are considering similar transactions. Risk financing instruments can assure governments of sufficient post-disaster capital to provide emergency response, disaster relief to the affected population and repair public infrastructure. The costs of financial instruments, however, can greatly exceed expected losses, and for this reason it is important to closely examine their benefits and alternatives. This paper analyzes the Mexican case from the perspective of the risk cedent (the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit), which was informed by analyses provided by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The rationale for a government to insure its contingent liabilities is presented along with the fiscal, legal and institutional context of the Mexican transaction. Using publicly available data, the paper scrutinizes the choice the authorities faced between two different risk-transfer instruments: reinsurance and a catastrophe bond. Making use of IIASA's catastrophe simulation model (CATSIM), this financial risk management decision is analyzed within the context of a public investment decision. r

re searchers conducted a study to investigate the human response issues related to wearing a self-contained self-rescuer (SCSR). The goal was to develop training to educate miners on what they could expect from their units during an escape. Subjects included miners who had experience wearing SCSRs, manu facturers, and researchers. Results identified nine key areas of concern: (1) starting the unit, (2) unit heat, (3) induction of coughing, (4) unit taste, (5) difficulty in breathing while wearing the unit, (6) quality of the air supplied, (7) nose clips, (8) goggles, and (9) the behavior of the breathing bag. In addition, researchers reviewed the literature on human response under duress. This article describes the expectations training program, which comprises the findings of the SCSR study and what is known about the normal human response in an emergency. The authors present background on SCSRs and the SCSR switchover procedure mandated in the recent federal Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, which provided the impetus for the expectations training.

The effective response actions can significantly reduce the damage caused by disasters, but the emergency managers require plenty of information before setting up appropriate strategies. The data gathering and analyzing processes are complex and the time is constrained during emergency. A GISbased decision support system was developed to enhance the emergency operations during typhoon attacks in Taiwan. The system integrates the real time rainfall monitor and forecast information, the hazard potential, and the basic spatial database to help the emergency managers making decisions efficiently.

Most risk management activity in the healthcare sector is retrospective, based on learning from experience. This is feasible where the risks are routine, but emergency operations plans (EOP) guide the response to events that are both high risk and rare. Under these circumstances, it is important to get the response right the first time, but learning from experience is usually not an option. This case study presents the rationale for taking a proactive approach to improving healthcare organizations' EOP. It demonstrates how the Prospective Hazard Analysis (PHA) Toolkit can drive organizational learning and argues that this toolkit may lead to more efficient improvement than drills and exercises.

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The major role of disaster recovery management is to rapidly restore the chaotic condition to normal, which includes mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. To reduce secondary damage and loss, the recovery process must be facilitated. Information technologies (including network, web-based, computer, and related software tools) speed up the work process to rapidly deliver disaster information to the related department. In this paper, we share an experience that used a framework of emergency response, including a simple pre-operating process and a web-based information system, to effectively manage and control damaged medical equipment after a fire accident in a hospital operating room. This web-based information system was built in only 2 weeks and was used to manage a large amount of medical equipment affected by the fire. Since then, it effectively prevented the interruption of clinical work at 22 clinical units by supporting the reconstruction activities.

An earthquake planning scenario document was recently released by the USGS and California Geological Survey that hypothesizes the occurrence and effects of a MW7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault. It was created by more than 300 scientists and engineers. Fault offsets reach 13m, and up to 8m at lifeline crossings. Physics-based modeling was used to generate maps of

A survey of emergency preparedness was conducted in three public school districts in urban areas of Los Angeles County. Eighty-three school sites were surveyed using self-administered questionnaires. Although designated respondents generally felt that their schools were well prepared, the survey also revealed the need for improvements in written disaster plans, emergency response training, availability of equipment and supplies, and implementation of the statemandated Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS). A significant predictor of compliance with the SEMS guidelines was having experienced the effects of school emergencies in the past.

A rapid fusion method was tested on concrete and brick samples. Actinides were determined rapidly using the fusion plus extraction chromatography and alpha spectrometry. Stacked TEVA, TRU and DGA rein cartridges were used with rapid flow rates. High chemical yields, effective removal of interferences and very good results were obtained.

Successful disaster management requires efficient information sharing and coordination of multi-agency emergency response operations. This paper compares two types of multi-agency emergency response exercises where multiple relief agencies are required to collaborate, using a set of information communication technologies, in response to large-scale disaster scenarios. The analysis shows that many decision-makers and information managers suffer from a lack of information availability awareness and that the information flows are heavily regulated by the institutional structure and organizations involved in multi-agency emergency response, which may not achieve the full potential of the available ICTs' technical capabilities. As a result, information systems should be conceptualized in a way that the system includes the underlying political and organizational structure, institutional rules/operational procedures, norms, and most importantly, the human actors. The paper also discusses several points that seem to have important implications to successful emergency response.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) was developed so that responders from different jurisdictions and disciplines could work together to respond to natural disasters and emergencies, including acts of terrorism. The NIMS document provides a set of guidelines about practices but it does not spell of the design requirements for information systems to support the management of critical incidents. Though

Anomaly detection is a pattern recognition task whose goal is to report the occurrence of abnormal or unknown behavior in a given system being monitored. In this paper we propose a general procedure for the computation of decision thresholds for anomaly detection in mobile communication networks. The proposed method is based on Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and the computation of nonparametric (i.e. percentile-based) confidence intervals. Through simulations we compare the performance of the proposed and standard SOM-based anomaly detection methods with respect to the false positive rates produced.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) provide a low cost solution with respect to maintenance and installation and in particular, building refurbishment and retrofitting are easily accomplished via wireless technologies. Fire emergency detection and response for building environments is a novel application area for the deployment of wireless sensor networks. In such a critical environment, timely data acquisition, detection and response are needed for successful building automation. This paper presents an overview of our recent research activity in this area. Firstly we explain research on communication protocols that are suitable for this problem. Then we describe work on the use of WSNs to improve fire evacuation and navigation.

Memorial days of disasters represent an opportunity to evaluate the progress of recovery. This article uses sentiment analysis (SA) to assess post-disaster recovery on the 10th anniversary of L’Aquila’s earthquake using Twitter data. We have analyzed 4349 tweets from 4 to 10 April 2019 with the hashtag: #L’Aquila that we have obtained from a third-party vendor. The polarity is first defined using a supervised classification based on experts’ rules on post-disaster reconstruction and Grammarly tones. Then, this polarity is compared with the outcome of an unsupervised classification based on the pre-trained SA machine learning algorithm developed by MonkeyLearn. We have found a significant negative assessment of the post-disaster recovery process in L’Aquila. About 33.1% of the tweets had a negative polarity, followed by 29.3% tweets with a neutral polarity, 28.7% with positive polarity, and 8.9% unrelated to the anniversary. Further analysis of the tweets confirms that after 10 years...

This paper explored the challenges present in the offshore medical emergency response (MER) system from the perspective of offshore medics by reflecting on their experiences in handling delays in emergency medical evacuation cases. We conducted qualitative interviews using the critical incident technique method. The participants recruited using the purposive sampling method comprise of 8 experienced offshore medics working on various types of oil and gas offshore facilities across the Malaysian Offshore. Data analysis was performed using qualitative content analysis. The in-depth individual interviews have resulted in the identification of 114 critical incidents for analysis. Seven themes emerged on MER system challenges including communication, decision making, facility layout, logistics problems, offshore medic responds, SOP and protocols as well as weather conditions. Decision-making was found to be one of the major challenges. The results suggest that the MER system needs to be revised in its current practice and we have proposed revisions to the industrial guidelines on response time tiers. This study has added a new understanding on the challenges found in the MER system from a different perspective.

Natural Disasters causing damage to human life, property, infrastructure and economy has emerged as a global challenge. Requisite safety measures have to be provided for natural hazards. Prevention is better than cure. Once disaster occurred, it is very difficult to handle and control it. Hence proper planning shall always handle and mitigate the various kinds of disasters effectively, for which open, transparent and efficient systems have to be followed. There is a need for systematic identification, preparation, prediction, assessment, evaluation of disaster events and incorporation of mitigate measures. Disaster management is a sequential and continuous process planning. The important elements which are to be considered at all stages during the disaster management are disaster management system and standards (DMS)/ Indian Standard (IS) codes, disaster diagnosis, disaster resource planning (DRP), disaster impact assessment (DIA), investigation of disaster and hazardous risk assessment (IDHRA), onsite and offsite emergency planning, disaster management plans (DMPs), corporate disaster preparedness programmes , emergency response plans, identification of proactive measures (IPM), systematic measurement, resource evaluation and quantification, cost analysis, environmental impact assessment (EIA), feedback towards achieving the disaster control abatement and mitigation strategies, research and development, management innovations, loss assessment & prevention (LAP) measures , recovery, relief , reconstruction and rehabilitation (RRRR) activities, computer aided methods, state-of-art software on disaster management and enforcement of disaster compensation laws. The disaster management must also involve coordination activities about disaster events with all participatory sectors namely, all levels of central and state government, districts administration, municipalities, corporations, medical and health administration including industrial disaster and safety administration, occupational health hazard and safety administration, non-occupational health hazard and safety administration, communication services, geographical information system services, environmental remote sensing services, print and electronic media networks,, insurance services, social and community mobilization services, fire and explosion services, civil defense and home guards, police and paramilitary forces, armed forces, industrial security forces, border security forces , public and private sector industries, research and development organizations, non-government and voluntary organizations, environmental and ecological protection services, information and broadcasting services, construction sector, education and training sectors. The officials of the above sectors must be imparted specialized on-campus and off-campus training in the emerging areas of disaster management modules such as emergency preparedness plans, DMS, DRP, DIA, IDHRA, IPM, DMP, EIA, LAP training modules, RRRR modules, occupational, non-occupational health hazard, disaster investigation, risk assessment and EIA training modules including training in various computer aided and stateof-art software packages. In this research paper important elements of the disaster management for practitioners have been discussed.

This paper looks at the integration of local authorities within the emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) system for health. The experience of the author, who works within this field for a local authority, is that current guidance is unclear and has affected integration of local authorities into the EPRR system. This paper therefore aims to identify why these issues exist and to assist in driving changes to current guidance, documentation and procedures.

During medium to large-scale emergency events such as fires or earthquakes, emergency response teams must be deployed to the location of the event in a timely fashion. Information gathered from 9-1-1 call makers is useful for this, but is not always accurate. In this paper, we show how the space-time permutation scan statistic can be used to detect the presence and location of such events by monitoring the overall spatiotemporal pattern of 9-1-1 emergency calls instead. In an analysis of collected 9-1-1 call data, top detected clusters were found to correlate with emergency events as reported on the news, showing the algorithm's usefulness for automatically estimating their location and temporal extent. We show how the detection procedure works in cases where the emergency event generates a small but statistically significant increase in the number of 9-1-1 calls, as well as cases where events must be detected against a large background activity of 9-1-1 calls. We discuss the possible adoption of the proposed algorithm within the next generation digital government framework. Published by Elsevier Inc.

On 28 September, a series of earthquakes struck Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, the strongest of which was a 7.4M earthquake only 10 km deep and with its epicentre close to the provincial capital, Palu. The earthquake triggered a tsunami striking beaches in Palu and Donggala. The earthquakes, tsunami and resulting liquefaction and landslides caused significant damage and loss of life. As of 21 December, 2,101 people are known to have died, 1,373 people have been reported as missing and the number of IDPs stands at 133,631 people. The report from the Centre for Disaster Data and Information (PUSDATINA) of Central Sulawesi Province on 20 December 2018 confirmed a need for 20,257 shelters to be built in 207 IDPs sites. 

Across the three main livelihood zones – coastal, inland and upland – the earthquake has severely affected the fishing and agriculture sectors, and damaged key market infrastructure and SME/income generating assets. Basic short-term food needs have been met by the Government of Indonesia and other actors; however, loss of income and reduced purchasing power pose a risk to food security for vulnerable households. Reduced financial access to food will complicate already troubling child nutrition - results of a nutrition surveillance established by the Ministry of Health (PSG 2017) unveiled GAM exceeded the WHO crisis classification threshold for “serious” (10%).

The overall objectives of this Rapid HEA (household economy analysis) are to assess the food security and livelihoods needs of Central Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami affected population, alongside relevant market analysis, in SC operational areas of Central Sulawesi; and to inform strategic decisions and scale up for livelihood recovery programming.

The methodology was essentially a normal HEA baseline assessment with the following differences: three days of classroom training for the field team instead of five or six days, which included tailoring the interview forms and spreadsheets to the local context; six days of fieldwork per livelihood zone instead of 10-12 days; five villages visited per livelihood zone instead of 8-12 villages; current year monitoring information gathered in addition to HEA baseline information for a reference year; and two days instead of at least four days to analyse reference year information, compile bullet points for the report, set up a single zone analysis spreadsheet, and run the earthquake / current year scenarios.

Most of the field data was collected directly at village from community key informants and focus groups through lengthy semi-structured interviews. Interviews were also conducted with traders. For more information on the Household Economy Analysis framework and methodology, please see the following resources: 1. HEA Guide for Programme Planners and Policy Makers:  http://foodeconomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/HEA-Guide-for-Programme-Policy-Makers.pdf 2. HEA Practitioners’ Guide:  http://foodeconomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Practitioners-Guide-to-HEA.pdf 3. HEA Animation (7 minutes): http://foodeconomy.com/household-economy-analysis-services/hea-animation/

There is much literature in the area of emergency response management systems. Even so, there is in general a lacuna of literature that deals with the issue of measuring the effectiveness of such systems. The aim of this study is to develop and validate an instrument to measure the critical factors that contribute to the efficiency of decision support in critical incident management systems (CIMS). The instrument presented in this paper has been developed using a CIMS efficiency model that is based on an adaptation of media richness theory, aspects of the national incident management system (NIMS) and interviews with experts on emergency management. The instrument has been validated through a pretest, followed by a pilot test and, finally, a main field test which includes a survey of 76 experts. The final instrument consists of 28 statistically relevant question items, which form eight constructs. The instrument allows communities to assess both strengths and weaknesses of existing systems. This allows communities to better prepare for disasters as it informs both policies and practice on areas of weakness that need addressing.

This paper examines the relationship between volcanic risk and the tourism sector in southern Iceland and the complex challenge emergency management officials face in developing effective volcanic risk mitigation strategies. An early warning system and emergency response procedures were developed for communities surrounding Katla, the volcano underlying the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap. However, prior to and during the 2007 tourist season these mitigation efforts were not effectively communicated to stakeholders located in the tourist destination of Þórsmörk despite its location within the hazard zone of Katla. The hazard zone represents the potential extent of a catastrophic jökulhlaup (glacial outburst flood). Furthermore, volcanic risk mitigation efforts in Þórsmörk were based solely on information derived from physical investigations of volcanic hazards. They did not consider the human dimension of risk. In order to address this gap and provide support to current risk mitigation efforts, questionnaire surveys were used to investigate tourists' and tourism employees' hazard knowledge, risk perception, adoption of personal preparedness measures, predicted behaviour if faced with a Katla eruption and views on education. Results indicate that tourists lack hazard knowledge and they do not adopt preparedness measures to deal with the consequences of an eruption. Despite a high level of risk perception, tourism employees lack knowledge about the early warning system and emergency response procedures. Results show that tourists are positive about receiving information concerning Katla and its hazards and therefore, the reticence of tourism employees with respect to disseminating hazard information is unjustified. In order to improve the tourism sector's collective capacity to positively respond during a future eruption, recommendations are made to ensure adequate dissemination of hazard, risk and emergency response information. Most importantly education campaigns should focus on: (a) increasing tourists' knowledge of Katla, jökulhlaup and other volcanic hazards and (b) increasing tourist and employee awareness of the early warning and information system and appropriate behavioural response if a warning is issued. Further, tourism employees should be required to participate in emergency training and evacuation exercises annually. These efforts are timely given that Katla is expected to erupt in the near future and international tourism is an expanding industry in Þórsmörk.

Although many efforts have focused on studying methods to prevent incidents in major hazard plants, mishaps still occur because of various technical and human failures and random natural events. It seems that unexpected disturbances not being absorbed by the system and leading to catastrophes are unavoidable even under good risk management; this seems to be true especially today with the more complex systems. Resilience, which is the ability to recover quickly after an upset, has been recognized as an important characteristic of a complex organization handling hazardous technical operations. In response to the need to further improve the safety of industrial processes or plants, there is a need to study the resilience of a process operation incase unexpected events occur. The aim of this work is to propose the principles and factors that contribute to the resilience of a process. Both are identified based on literature reviews and expert opinions. Six principles, including Flexibility, Controllability, Early Detection, Minimization of Failure, Limitation of Effects, Administrative Controls/Procedures, and five main contributing factors, including Design, Detection Potential, Emergency Response Plan, Human Factor, and Safety Management are identified in this work. An example has been used to demonstrate and support recognized contributing factors. These principles and contributing factors can be applied to evaluations of the resilience of a design or process operation.

The aim of this study is to identify the potential risks to the North Station (Beit Lahiya Station and the North Emergency Station), and to prepare emergency response procedures in the sewage treatment plant in Northern Gaza. The researchers followed the descriptive and analytical approach of the sources and reports issued by the institutions related to the sewage stations in the Gaza Strip. The study also included interviews with engineers at the station to analyze and assess the risks to the North station, to identify indicators to prevent flooding of Umm al-Nasr village, and to identify preventive measures to avoid disasters.
The study also recommended the necessity of finishing the development of the North Emergency Station Project to accommodate the cumulative increase in the amount of treated water, as well as work on the preparation of contingency plans to deal with the expected risks and the preparation of preparedness and response procedures for each risk.

This paper presents the design and implementation of a distributed virtual reality (VR) platform that was developed to support the training of multiple users who must perform complex tasks in which situation assessment and critical thinking are the primary components of success. The system is fully immersive and multimodal, and users are represented as tracked, full-body figures. The system supports the manipulation of virtual objects, allowing users to act upon the environment in a natural manner. The underlying intelligent simulation component creates an interactive, responsive world in which the consequences of such actions are presented within a realistic, time-critical scenario. The focus of this work has been on the training of medical emergency-response personnel. BioSimMER, an application of the system to training first responders to an act of bio-terrorism, has been implemented and is presented throughout the paper as a concrete example of how the underlying platform archit...

Recent years have seen rapidly growing interest in the development of networks of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (U.A.V.s), as aerial sensor networks for the purpose of coordinated monitoring, surveillance, and rapid emergency response. This has triggered a great deal of research in higher levels of planning and control, including collaborative sensing and exploration, synchronized motion planning, and formation or cooperative control. In this paper, we describe our recently developed experimental testbed at the University of Pennsylvania, which consists of multiple, fixed-wing UAVs. We describe the system architecture, software and hardware components, and overall system integration. We then derive high-fidelity models that are validated with hardware-in-theloop simulations and actual experiments. Our models are hybrid, capturing not only the physical dynamics of the aircraft, but also the mode switching logic that supervises lower level controllers. We conclude with a description of cooperative control experiments involving two fixed-wing UAVs.

In recent years, there has been great progress understanding the underlying causes of earthquakes, as well as forecasting their occurrence and preparing communities for their damaging effects. Plate tectonic theory explains the occurrence of earthquakes at discrete plate boundaries, such as subduction zones and transform faults, but diffuse plate boundaries are also common. Seismic hazards are distributed over a broad region within diffuse plate boundaries. Intraplate earthquakes occur in otherwise stable crust located far away from any plate boundary, and can cause great loss of life and property. These earthquakes cannot be explained by classical plate tectonics, and as such, are a topic of great scientific debate. Earthquake hazards are determined by a number of factors, among which the earthquake magnitude is only one factor. Other critical factors include population density, the potential for secondary hazards, such as fire, landslides and tsunamis, and the vulnerability of man-made structures to severe strong ground motion. In order to reduce earthquake hazards, engineers and scientists are taking advantage of new technologies to advance the fields of earthquake forecasting and mitigation. Seismicity is effectively monitored in many regions with regional networks, and world seismicity is monitored by the Global Seismic Network that consists of more than 150 high-quality, broadband seismic stations using satellite telemetry systems. Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems monitor crustal strain in tectonically active and intraplate regions. A relatively recent technology, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) uses radar waves emitted from satellites to map the Earth’s surface at high (sub-cm) resolution. InSAR technology opens the door to continuous monitoring of crustal deformation within active plate boundaries. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), along with other partners, has created ShakeMap, an online notification system that provides near-real-time post-earthquake maps of ground shaking intensity. These maps are especially useful for the coordination of emergency response teams and for the improvement of building codes. Using a combination of these new technologies, with paleoseismology studies, we have steadily improved the science of earthquake forecasting whereby one estimates the probability that an earthquake will occur during a specified time interval. A very recent development is Earthquake Early Warning, a system that will provide earthquake information within seconds of the initial rupture of a fault. These systems will give the public some tens of seconds to prepare for imminent earthquake strong ground motion. Advances in earthquake science hold the promise of diminishing earthquake hazards on a global scale despite ever-increasing population growth.

Text 1183 houses collapsed, 558 apartment blocks and 5497 houses were heavily damaged in the November 26 earthquake in Albania earthquake Albania Albanian earthquake.Extremely strong shake with damage Barn collapsed...very strong 10 seconds…all was shaking strong and strong. We cannot get in touch with our father Ramazan Bal, since the earthquake hit. If somebody sees him or has any information about him, please contact us. My aunt, Tevhide Akkus, is under the debris in283/1 Emrah apartment, 1 st floor, please help. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT & EARLY RECOVERY Building damage Geotechnical effects Lifelines affected Injuries-casualties Emergency response Solidarity messages Preparedness Seismic information Intensity Early recovery Tsunami effects Construction practices Critical infrastructure Urban facilities Topic Analysis Zagreb earthquake 2020 Emergency response and early recovery Case study Data Collection Method 31,911 reports 59,246 tweets 19,840 original 39,406 retweets Contreras et al (2021). Assessing Emergency Response and Early Recovery using Sentiment Analysis (SA).

The renewable energy sector has seen a rapid expansion in recent years and the number of green jobs is quickly increasing. The development of wind sector, associated with a strong focus on innovation, has given importance to the assessment of new and emerging hazards and risks for ensuring adequate, safe and healthy working conditions. The main aim of this paper is to provide a tool for improving proactive safety standards in onshore wind farms. The emergency management was outlined integrating some pinpointed indicators identified by wind turbines owners and manufacturers in a simple and practical instrument (risk assessment tool) aimed to facilitate emergency responses in case of accidents. The idea was to develop a systematic pattern that allows the employers and those responsible for the plant prevention to better manage an emergency event based on a risk assessment in an onshore wind farm during the operation stage. Specifically, the tool was tested and used to classify the risk level for occupational safety in 56 Italian onshore wind farms. The results obtained provide an overview of the crucial factors for optimizing the emergency management process in onshore wind farms at national level.

This paper reviews a recent RedfishGroup project for the City of Santa Fe Fire and Police Department integrating wildfire simulation and agent-based modeling of traffic dynamics. Visualizations of the evacuation dynamics were used to communicate with citizens dangers faced during evacuations and to explore when shelter-in-place is a reasonable alternative to evacuation. Additional uses of the model were for use in "table top" exercises conducted by multi-agency emergency response teams and for identification of intersections and road segments expected to have high congestion. The paper reviews the modeling approach and the ecology of software tools used on the project. ESRI ArcView was used for preparing GIS data sources of housing, street centerline data, elevation maps and geo-referenced aerial infrared imaging for wildfire fuels modeling. Netlogo was used for early prototyping of both cellular automata-based wildfire models and for network-based traffic models. FARSITE was later integrated for wildfire simulation. Open-source Blender3D was a central tool for this project used for both agent-based modeling and 3D visualization. The traffic agent-based model of 50,000 cars on the Santa Fe road network was written directly in Blender using Python. The traffic visualization was combined with wildfire simulation output from FARSITE and rendered in 3D in Blender. Simulation results were deployed for community use in Google Earth and Quicktime visualizations generated by Blender.