Prutsalis talk before the Disasters Roundtable, National Academy of Sciences,, March 21, 2012: Opportunities in Information and Technological Recovery

1. 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
March
21,
2012
DISASTER
ROUNDTABLE
1

2. 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
March
21,
2012
DISASTER
ROUNDTABLE
2

3. 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
March
21,
2012
DISASTER
ROUNDTABLE
3

4. Best Practices: Open Standards and
Information Sharing Agreements/MOUs
Standards Organizations
Missing Persons Community
of Interest 2012
Safe
and
Well
EDXL-­‐TEC
PFIF
Travax
Haiti Hospital Data
(Proposed) 2010
Google
EDXL-­‐
Sahana
HAVE
Resource
Finder
March
21,
2012
DISASTER
ROUNDTABLE
4

5. 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