Developing a System for Information Management in Disaster Relief - Methodology and Requirements

This paper discusses our ongoing work on a system for collecting, managing and distributing relevant information in disaster relief operations. It describes the background and conditions under which the system is being developed and employed. We present our methodology, the requirements and current functionality of the system and the lessons learned in exercises and training, involving a large number of international disaster management experts. We found that the viability of this kind of tool is determined by three main factors, namely reliability, usability and frugality. The system has gone through many prototype iterations and has matured towards becoming operational in a specific type of mission, i.e. assessment missions for large scale natural and man-made disasters. This paper aims at making a wider audience of disaster management experts aware of that system and the support it may provide to their work. Other researchers and developers may find our experience useful for creating systems in similar domains.