Governance and Emergency Preparedness

Disaster can be defined as the onset of an extreme event causing profound damage or loss as perceived by the afflicted people. Disaster management involves three phases predisaster, during the disaster, and postdisaster. The predisaster phase consists of risk identification, mitigation, and preparedness. During the disaster, emergency response takes place, and in the postdisaster phase, rehabilitation and reconstruction are applied. The actions create a cycle in time. In the predisaster phase to identify risk, hazard, risk, and vulnerability assessments are performed. Hazard can be defined as an interaction between humans and an extreme natural event with respect to cultural perceptions and value systems. The term risk includes probability and could, therefore, be defined as the actual exposure of something of human value to a hazard and is often regarded as the combination of probability and loss. These assessments help identify the characteristics of a hazard such as its frequency, magnitude, and location. Elements at risk are the population and assets exposed in a vulnerability assessment. Since risk is identified using vulnerability and probability of hazard, therefore
Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability
Building disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters.
Increase public awareness to understand risk, vulnerability and disaster reduction globally
– The more people, regional organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations, United Nations entities, representatives of civil society and others know about risk, vulnerability and how to manage the impacts of natural hazards, the more disaster reduction measures will be implemented in all sectors of society. Prevention begins with information.
Obtain commitment from public authorities to implement disaster reduction policies and actions
– The more decision-makers at all levels commit themselves to disaster reduction policies and actions, the sooner communities vulnerable to natural disasters will benefit from applied disaster reduction policies and actions. This requires, in part, a grassroots approach whereby communities at risk are fully informed and participate in risk management initiatives.
Stimulate interdisciplinary and intersectoral partnerships, including the expansion of risk reduction networks
– The more entities active in disaster reduction share information on their research and practices, the more useful the global body of knowledge and experience will progress. By sharing a common purpose and through collaborative efforts we can ensure a world that is more resilient to the impact of natural hazards.
Improve scientific knowledge about disaster reduction
– The more we know about the causes and consequences of natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters on societies, the more we are able to be better prepared to reduce risks. Bringing the scientific community and policy makers together allows them to contribute to and complement each other's work.
“On services, such as e-health, e-participation, e-voting, e-environment or e-weather, for example, serves as a guide to the wider subject matter of e-governance that can, in time, be imprinted on the public for disaster management. The result of the risk assessment provides a function of hazard probability and vulnerability. Hazard monitoring and forecasting use GIS, mapping, and scenario building. At the end of this phase, risk is identified and mitigated. Land-use planning and building codes related to the risk can be updated and enforced in the community. The public could be educated about risks and trained in prevention. In emergency preparedness, early warning systems, communication systems, networks of emergency responders, shelter facilities, and evacuation plan are key elements. During the disaster phase, existing early warning systems could be used. In emergency response, humanitarian assistance, cleanup, temporary repairs, restoration of services, and damage assessment are the basic steps. After this phase, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities take place. Damaged critical infrastructure is reconstructed; budget and macroeconomic management issues are addressed; revitalization of affected sectors begins; and tourism, exports, and agriculture are managed.
A moving away from definitions of what government is doing in the "e" world only leads to a lessening of accountability of the activities in which any government is engaged. In society, it is the identifying of concepts through words and phrases that leads to cohesion and order. Subject matters create an ambience between stakeholders throughout the society. Disasters or hazards are not limited to tsunamis. Others include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought, famine, epidemics, floods, landslides, storms, hurricanes, avalanches, and fires. The list could be extended to include technological and man-made hazards such as pollution and land contamination. Any of these hazards could be controlled and mitigated by effective disaster management. In general, these activities can be distinguished into three areas viz., Social activities (relief work, food, shelter, etc.) Scientific activities that could support social activities and scientific activities that support research .Scientific and social constrains played very crucial role in managing any disaster.
Following are scientific constrains for preparedness of emergency plan-
1. Lack of data,
2. Inadequate data sharing,
3. Poor communication of data and
4. Duplication of data

Following are social constrains for preparedness of emergency plan-
1. Political problems,
2. Government structure,
3. Relocation of people and
4. Inequity

Disaster management is a cycle in time, and the objective is to save lives and property. Thus, the goal is to be prepared for the next disaster. Hazards are region based, and this generally means that they will repeat themselves sooner or later. To be better prepared for the next one, the steps that should be taken are
· Assessment of risk
· Mapping the extent of the disaster
· Helping communities prepare
· Allocating resources
· Deploying personnel
· Monitoring emergencies in real time
· Saving lives
· Protecting property

For ICT project proper preparedness vulnerability mapping and comprehensive risk assessment is very essential but this important component is missing due to following reasons-
· Minimal field assessments to date mainly restricted to areas of high population density
· Lack of historic environmental baseline data
· Putting the "e the lack of environmental quality assessments and data on toxic and hazardous wastes that may be mixed with other debris
· The lack of environmental guidelines in national disaster plans (some times)

The information gathered from the Internet, interviews, and discussions was used to measure the results of emergency management and GIS usage. Emergency preparedness following things are required; Critical infrastructure data, up-to-date image data bank, Metadata, data interoperability, predefined emergency response database model and data sharing with media for coordination in allocating resources, preventing the duplication of data, awareness of ongoing international/national GIS projects, upgrading to high-tech GIS system, mobile mapping capabilities and monitoring emergencies in real time. In general, most of the coordination efforts failed because of the diversity of the levels of information in the countries impacted by the disaster. In general, the affected countries did not have the base data or technology to address their needs. Lack of information was not the only factor responsible for impeding humanitarian efforts; political, social, and economic issues were also major obstacles. Because of these obstacles, officials responsible for creating and implementing programs and policies should be sensitive to the diversity of the people in the region and enlist the help of sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists. On an international level, the coordination of agencies responding to the disaster was inefficient. To better respond to future disasters, countries need to work together at the regional and international levels ahead of time. The use of GIS technology for these applications will enable the agencies involved to save time and improve efficiency.