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Description
Developing and low-income nations have historically been the most prone countries to natural hazards with high risks of losing their inhabitants, property, and other valuable commodities such as infrastructure, historical artifacts, and economy. A number of international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) as well as individual countries (USA, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Israel, etc.) and humanitarian-aid organizations have developed different policies and sophisticated approaches and tools to address emergencies and risks. These policies and approaches are both defined for domestic challenges for each country, but also for worldwide challenges for countries and organizations assisting in Disaster Risk Reduction, Humanitarian Aid, and in Emergency Response. Many developing countries and communities are clearly not integrated with global resources and are not even feeling the need to develop such integration--they are continuing as they have for centuries relying on their own resources and policies. Technological developments and global dependencies make global collaboration both possible and almost required as any negative influence on the global economy generally spreads out and impacts many other people and nations. This is also specifically true in important parts of life such as Emergency Management, where regional and global collaboration and cooperation are generally extremely valuable among all actors involved in all phases of Emergency Management cycle. Failure to develop such collaboration and cooperation before disasters occur can lead to enormous failures when trying to tactically respond to disasters and emergencies. The loss of life and property can be far higher and the ultimate cost far greater than if the resources were invested in preparedness and prevention prior to the disaster. Not being prepared including prepared to collaborate and cooperate with others trying to help can be immensely costly to a nation or region. How this collaboration and cooperation might be assisted with maps, imagery, and information linked together to provide compelling situation awareness is the focus of this thesis. In the last several years Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief organizations have gained deep knowledge and experience from decades of work in the field. Yet, new partners such as the global open-source community are opening immense new possibilities of closer cooperation with communities affected by disasters by using global collaboration and technology such as the Internet, smartphones, and cloud computing. Basically they are offering faster and more effective means of analyzing an ever-increasing volume and velocity of data. These new technologies and global empowerment to assist during disasters has changed what can be done as well as change what must be done by nations and organizations as the public now demands near real-time response and collaboration. This thesis thus examines this new normal of collaboration, cooperation, and shared response in global disasters.
