International Journal of Emergency Management (9 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• The supportive role of non-governmental organisations in sustainable emergency management: the case of Poland  
  by Dominika Marciniak 
  Abstract: Non-governmental organisations in sustainable emergency management have many roles, depending on the stage of crisis development. In many emergency situations, non-governmental organisations appear first, and in some cases even before host governments. That is why it is so important to discuss the role of NGOs in the process of sustainable emergency management and to assess the effectiveness of joint actions of humanitarian aid providers. For this purpose, research was conducted among organisations of the crisis management network. It turns out that an important factor determining the effectiveness of jointly undertaken activities is the level of trust between organisations, the increase of which results in increasing the effectiveness of cooperation of NGOs with other entities of the crisis management network. Moreover, more than half of the respondents positively assessed the level of organisational effectiveness of joint activities with the participation of NGOs and volunteers.
  Keywords: sustainable emergency management; non-governmental organisations; crisis management network; humanitarian logistics; volunteerism; disaster management; network approach; donors.
  
  
• Institutional capacity of Nigerias emergency management system: nexus of resource availability and communication capacity  
  by Justine Uyimleshi 
  Abstract: This study aims to investigate Nigerias EMSs capacity considering its resource availability and communication ability to share information. Both qualitative and quantitative methods involving the use of questionnaire and interview with staff of NEMA, NSCDC, NPF, FRSC, FMOH and NH was adopted. Limited resources, lack of well-trained personnel, lack of communication equipment and networks for sharing of information and lack of technological facilities to support rapid response affects effective disaster management in Nigeria. Likewise, poor coordination, lack of cooperation and integration between different actors and mismanagement and unwise use of resources. There is a need to improve accountability to create a viable, effective and efficient EMS that conform to global standards. And the National Disaster management framework should be implemented effectively. Conclusion contended that more collaboration, cooperation and integration in the public-private-partnership is needed to improve resource utilisation and regular training programmes must be established to keep staff knowledge up-to-date.
  Keywords: disaster management; emergency preparedness; institutional capability; resource availability; communication ability and response.
  
  
• Cybersecurity challenges for field hospitals: impacts of emergency cyberthreats during emergency situations  
  by Nasir Baba Ahmed, Nicolas Daclin, Marc Olivaux, Gilles Dusserre 
  Abstract: The use of technology and IT assets in healthcare and emergency response personnel in field hospitals improves emergency care and service delivery. However, these benefits create increasing concerns about the security of infrastructure such as medical devices, health data etc., as healthcare is an attractive target owing to its rich source of valuable data and its weak defences. This paper evaluates how cyberthreat actors take advantage of a current emergency situation to exploit and attack the healthcare emergency response IT infrastructure. It also explores the opportunistic approach used by cyberthreat actors, and highlights the new vulnerabilities creative themes used to effectively deliver social engineering campaigns and physical attack scenarios successfully. Furthermore, it establishes the impacts of the cyber-attacks on the emergency response infrastructure and its stakeholders.
  Keywords: emergency; cybersecurity; cyber-attack; health data; medical devices; field hospital.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2022.10055804
   
  
• Impact of coordination on post-earthquake last mile relief distribution operations in India  
  by Reda M. Lebcir, Priyanka Roy 
  Abstract: The operations to deliver relief to disaster-affected populations are complex, requiring careful planning, execution, and coordination especially during the Last Mile Relief Distribution (LMRD) phase. This paper investigates the impact of coordination on LMRD performance in the context of India, one of the most affected countries in the world by natural disasters. The research was carried out in two phases. First, qualitative interviews were conducted with Indian government, national, and international non-governmental organisations involved in disaster relief operations in the country. Second, an agent-based simulation model representing Indian LMRD operations was developed and used to evaluate the impact of three coordination scenarios on the total level of inventory in distribution centres (TLIDC) and the logistics chain responsiveness during the 45 days period following an earthquake. Findings indicate that better coordination can reduce TLIDC by up to 16% and improves responsiveness by up to 13%. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.
  Keywords: emergency logistics; last mile relief distribution; agent-based simulation; coordination; India; earthquake; natural disaster; relief chain.
  
  
• Crisis management and forced collaboration: a case study during the coronavirus pandemic  
  by Camilla Lönngren, Erik Hedlund 
  Abstract: This article investigates one crisis management effort during the COVID-19 pandemics first wave in Stockholm, Sweden. Decision-makers in Stockholm were afraid that intensive care unit beds would run out due to the massive spread of the virus and therefore decided to build a temporary hospital in an exhibition hall outside Stockholm. Using field study observations and interviews, this article uses grounded theory method to describe what happened between two actors, a hospital and a regional administrative body, during this process. These two actors, in this article called the Operational and the Administrative organisations, are two separate but dependent actors who had to collaborate during this crisis. The crisis management process can be seen as forced collaboration. By investigating the different phases of the crisis management, we found that there were conflicting situational assessments, conflicting actions, power play and stereotyping, which contributed to making collaboration and crisis management difficult.
  Keywords: crisis management; COVID-19; collaboration; grounded theory; Sweden.
  
  
• Quantitative performance evaluations for crisis response management: a scoping study  
  by Nicoletta Baroutsi 
  Abstract: Evaluation methods are vital tools to support learning and ensure quality in crisis response management (CRM), they provide systematic feedback in situations where it is difficult to understand how separate factors affect the outcome of an event. In this paper, the scoping study methodology is used to examine the range and nature of methods available for evaluating CRM performance. The methods are systematically charted into classes to highlight significant research gaps and examine current trends. The analysis reveals that evaluation methods are not available for all relevant circumstances, that there are no attempts to create empirical baselines, and that the link between effectiveness and a method rarely is brought up. The paper also highlights how doctrinal knowledge may be used to increase interrater reliability, and issues that are complicating statistical validations in this field.
  Keywords: performance evaluations; quantitative evaluations; C2; command and control; CRM; crisis response management; evaluation methods; crisis management; analysis; human performance; literature review; scoping study.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2021.10055770
   
  
• The implications of climate change for emergency management: the example of Australia  
  by Jean S. Renouf 
  Abstract: While Australian emergency services have demonstrated definitive capacity to respond to different disasters, shortcomings identified during the 2017 ex-tropical cyclone Debbie and the 2019/2020 bushfire season underscore their limited readiness in light of a rapidly changing climate. This paper investigates the implications of climate change for emergency services, based on an analysis of documents published by Resilience NSW and using the NSW North Coast region of Australia as a case study, and finds a limited focus on climate change. It argues that emergency services will be faced with increasing uncertainty because of climate change and that institutional changes are necessary to better prepare for the impacts to come. Shifts in mindset, seeing climate change as an immediate threat, leading to a greater transparency about its implications and accompanied with a transformation of the emergency management sector into a better integrated, whole-of-community approach, are necessary to inform planning for future emergency management.
  Keywords: emergency management; emergency services; climate change; resilience; Australia; crisis; disasters; bushfire; floods; cyclone; policies; readiness; uncertainty; International Journal of Emergency Management.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2023.10056534
   
  
• To observe and evaluate sensemaking: the development of the sensemaking interaction analysis  
  by Nicoletta Baroutsi 
  Abstract: Systematic evaluations are vital to support learning and enhance performance in a crisis response. There are quantitative methods available today for evaluating crisis response management (CRM), but there are limiting factors negatively affecting their potential; They often involve techniques difficult to implement in real events, lack reliability testing, provide outcomes questionable from a learning perspective, are often not applicable across professions, and their correlation to effectiveness is rarely investigated. This paper exemplifies how these identified limitations can be addressed through an iterative development process, using a combination of theoretical knowledge and empirical data. The result is the sensemaking interaction analysis (SIA), a new method developed using techniques found in the design sciences. The idea behind SIA is that a crisis management team who collectively make sense of a crisis, its consequences, and possible actions will perform better than a team who fails to do so.
  Keywords: sensemaking; performance; performance evaluations; quantitative evaluations; method development; evaluation method; crisis response; CRM; crisis response management; crisis management; team evaluations.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2022.10055773
   
  
• Detecting the risk of COVID-19 spread in near real-time using social media  
  by Mohammed Ahsan Raza Noori, Bharti Sharma, Ritika Mehra 
  Abstract: COVID-19 is a contagious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, and WHO recommended preventive measures like social distancing, testing, lockdowns, face masks, etc. to limit its spread. Failure to implement and monitor these measures increases the risk of spread and mortality rates. In this paper, a near real-time system using Twitter for detecting the risk of COVID-19 spread is proposed. The system uses Apache Spark framework for text mining, machine learning, and near real-time processing of data from Twitter. Five base machine learning classifiers: support vector machine (SVM), logistic regression (LR), multilayer perceptron (MLP), decision tree (DT), and Naive Bayes (NB) are combined to form an ensemble majority voting classifier (EMVC). Results show that the EMVC achieved an accuracy of 94.76%. Then, the proposed system is tested in real-time for detecting tweets related to the risk of COVID-19 spread in London, Mumbai, and New York in June 2020.
  Keywords: COVID-19; coronavirus; risk detection; social media; Twitter; machine learning; ensemble learning; near real-time system; Apache Spark.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2023.10056536