Author(s) Rossi, Claudio et al.

Advanced cyber technologies to improve resilience to emergencies

Source

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

This report presents the I-REACT emergency management system, developed by a consortium of international partners within the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020. Leveraging on innovative cyber technologies and ICT systems, the I-REACT (Improving Resilience to Emergencies through Advanced Cyber Technologies) platform is designed as an articulated and modular system based on different components. The system integrates many different information sources, including Emergency Management Service maps, early warnings, satellite data, social media streams and crowdsourced information from emergency responders and citizens. In particular, I-REACT implements a multi-hazard system with a focus on main climate-induced natural hazards.

All this information is merged to provide added-value products and operational solutions such as a decision-support system for authorities and an app for citizens along with wearable devices and smart glasses designed for first-responders. The report describes the overall I-REACT concept and its Big Data framework, and how experts designed it by using a user-centred approach. Then, the report outlines how people can be engaged and support emergency management by means of social media and crowdsourcing, which are two key modules of I-REACT based on innovative algorithms and methodologies designed by the I-REACT research team.

This paper is a contribution to the 2019 edition of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2019).