Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Disaster And Disaster Management
According to a report by the U.N.’s Asia-Pacific social agency (UNESCAP), use of big data can better predict increasingly complex disasters in the Asia-Pacific region.
Key findings of report:
- Since 1970, natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region have killed two million people — 59% of the global death toll for that period.
- Disasters also cause more damage in Asia and the Pacific, measured as a percentage of GDP, than the rest of the world, and this gap has been widening.
- However, big data innovations reveal patterns of complex disaster risks which helps to understand and predict the risk of extreme and slow-onset events.
- Flood and cyclone forecasting now relies on computer simulations. Sensor webs and the Internet of Things have enabled efficient earthquake early-warning systems. Remote sensing via satellites and drones provide quick assessments of damage and people affected, and help in relief efforts.
Big Data
- Big data refers to the analysis of very large data sets to reveal patterns, trends and associations.
The data can come from a range of sources, including satellite imagery, drone videos, simulations, crowd sourcing, social media and global positioning systems.
The irony is that while a crisis calls for a quick and efficient response, it is often met with chaos and disorganization. All communities, worldwide, are vulnerable to crisis, both natural and human-induced. However, regardless of what is the type of a disaster, disaster management will always need some help in reaching out to those affected and creating safer situations. And that is exactly why big data in disaster management has so much to promise.
BIG DATA IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT: THE NEED
While businesses have already been using big data to improve their operations, crisis response teams are turning to big data too. And big data is known for taking unorganized sets of information and making them into something comprehensive. During a disaster, more often than not, response teams have to take decisions based on incomplete and inaccurate information. This is exactly where big data fills up the lacuna for right and complete information needed for managing the disaster well. During the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, or the hurricane Sandy of 2012, or for that matter any other disaster in any part of the world, response teams were struggling with to reach people who needed help quickly.
BIG DATA IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT: THE OPPORTUNITIES
So how exactly can big data improve the way disaster managements are planned and executed?
With big data, records of important population subsets, such as areas with elderly communities or areas with infant and youth concentrations can be recognized. Big data also helps identify the specific mobility support or resources that responders can apply to these population hot spots. It also gets easier, with big data, to send real-time information to residents when a disaster approaches.
With big data, it is possible to plan future reactions of residents who are living in an area that has previously suffered a disaster. For instance, data scientists can extract data sets from the details captured by local mobile-network operators to see how populations move in response to an emergency situation such as floods.
While maps are the starting point for effective disaster management, to put this mapping data to any use; responders need to combine geographical records with real-time images. This provides responders with in-the-moment evidence of new circumstances in a disaster site. This is precisely how responders during the 2001 9/11 disaster could better assess and respond to the safety concerns within the debris and sub-structures of the World Trade Center.
For data to be effective, it must be shareable. Big data helps create a kind of spatial data infrastructure, making the foundation of policies, protocols, and ways to exchange information an ongoing priority. Such sharing of data helps both, responders and survivors, to create new best-case scenarios.
Big data is all about the right preparation, quick response, and quick recovery; the necessary ingredients for making disaster management effective. The key lies in the proper utilization of this data by responders.