Title: A research-based approach to simulation in disaster management

Authors: Asli Soyler; Maria T. Bull; Yanshen Zhu; Abeer Sharawi; Pamela McCauley Bush

Addresses: Modelling and Simulation, Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., P.O. Box 162993, Orlando, FL 32816, USA ' Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, College of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., P.O. Box 162993, Orlando, FL 32816, USA ' Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., P.O. Box 162993, Orlando, FL 32816, USA ' Tech Solutions, Inc., 3662 Avalon Park East Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32828-7361, USA. ' Tech Solutions, Inc., 3662 Avalon Park East Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32828-7361, USA

Abstract: The need for emergency management models has increased in response to the rise in disasters in recent years. The need for a set of standards to be applied to the practise of emergency management has been identified by local and state officials (Local Emergency Management Standards, 1998). Disaster management has been studied by different researchers focusing on different aspects of the problem; however, there still is not a complete and integrated tool for disaster management. In this study, we introduce a research-based approach to simulation that combines the management needs, such as critical decision parameters and information, with actual disaster scenarios such as the impact and characteristics. Integrating these models allows us to better understand and study disaster management which is a complex system from various perspectives.

Keywords: disaster simulation; hurricanes; earthquakes; floods; disaster management; geographic information systems; GIS; Google earth; emergency management; modelling; model integration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAIP.2012.046963

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms, 2012 Vol.4 No.1, pp.2 - 21

Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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