Opportunities in Information and Technological Recovery

The Importance of Information in Recovery National Academy of Sciences

Disaster Roundtable March 21, 2012

Mark Prutsalis

Sahana Software Foundation DISASTER  ROUNDTABLE   1  March  21,  2012  

Disaster Trends & Opportunities •  World’s urban population will reach 6.4 billion by 2050 (that’s 70% of

the world’s projected population of 9.2 billion) - United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, 2007

§  World’s population and economic centers are concentrated in “vulnerable cities near earthquake faults, on river deltas or along tropical coasts.”

- the Economist, January 14, 2012

•  Growing vulnerability to to an increased incidence of costly disasters §  By 2050 the city populations exposed to tropical cyclones or earthquakes will more than

double, rising from 11% to 16% of the world’s population. - United Nations & World Bank, Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention, 2010

§  By 2070, seven of the ten greatest urban concentrations of economic assets that are exposed to coastal flooding will be in the developing world (vs. none in 2005). Assets exposed to flooding will rise from 5% of the world GDP to 9%.

- OECD, Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes: Exposure Estimates, 2007

•  Global annual disaster spending will triple to $185 billion by 2100 - United Nations & World Bank, Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention, 2010

§  Spending on urban infrastructure to approach $350 trillion over next 30 years. - Booz & Co., Reinventing the City to Combat Climate Change, 2010

§  2011 was costliest year ever for disasters (earthquakes in Japan & Zealand, flooding in China, Australia & Thailand, tornadoes in US).

§  Five of ten costliest disasters have occurred in last five years. §  20% of aid is now spent responding to disasters; only 0.7% is spent on mitigation. §  President Obama declared record 99 disaster declarations in 2011.

- the Economist, January 14, 2012

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Haiti Earthquake & The “New Information Environment”

New information and communication technologies, new information providers, and new international communities of interest emerged during the Haiti earthquake response that will forever change how humanitarian information is collected, shared, and managed. Humanitarian responders used social networking media, mobile phone text messaging, open source software applications, and commercial satellite imagery more than ever before. Outside of the established international humanitarian community, volunteers and participatory reporters from the affected population became new sources of data and information. Humanitarian organizations, host governments, and the donor community will all need to adapt to this new information environment.

US Department of State Humanitarian Information Unit, White Paper: Haiti Earthquake: Breaking New Ground in the Humanitarian Information Landscape, July 2010

New partners are offering faster, more effective means of analyzing an ever-increasing volume and velocity of data. The challenge ahead is how to create an effective interface between these resources, and create an eco-system where each actor understands its role. It will not be easy. Volunteer and technical communities (V&TCs) like OpenStreetMap, Sahana and CrisisMappers approach problems in ways that challenge the status quo.

UN  Founda<on,  Disaster  Relief  2.0:  The  Future  of  Informa<on  Sharing  in  Humanitarian  Emergencies,  2011  

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Best Practices: Open Standards and Information Sharing Agreements/MOUs

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Standards Organizations

Safe  and  Well  

EDXL-­‐TEC  PFIF  

EDXL-­‐HAVE  

Haiti Hospital Data (Proposed) 2010

Missing Persons Community of Interest 2012

Sahana

Google Resource

Finder

Travax

Leveraging New Technologies

•  How do you understand in 140 characters: §  Source, credibility, verification, validation, location,

prioritization, categorization, causation, responsibility

•  Challenge: appropriately integrate publicly available information with trusted systems.

March  21,  2012   DISASTER  ROUNDTABLE   5