1 Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System GDACS survey results & Virtual OSOCC analysis 4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008 Tom De Groeve Joint Research Centre of the European Commission 24-25 June 2008
Jan 01, 2016
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Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System
GDACS survey results&
Virtual OSOCC analysis
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
Tom De Groeve
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission24-25 June 2008
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Evaluating GDACS
• Is GDACS serving its purpose?
• Quantitative measures– User base
Users by organisation, country, language…
– Web statistics Most popular features
• Qualitative measures– Survey
User feedback– Analysis
How information flows in GDACS
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Part I
GDACS survey results
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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Survey set-up
Part 1) General: users and use of the GDACS system
Part 2) Service-specific questions – four services:
– GDACS Alerting Service– GDACS Portal– GDACS Coordination Service - Virtual OSOCC– GDACS Map Section Service
Part 3) Usefulness and appreciation of the GDACS system
Part 4) Optional
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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Part 1: General
Most users learned about GDACS through OCHA (in a training, VOSOCC or ReliefWeb)
Disasters of interest1) Earthquakes and tsunamis2) Floods and tropical cyclones3) Volcanoes Services most used1) Alerting service2) Virtual OSOCC 3) Map service4) Portal
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
Users• 69% - Humanitarian response
Especially used for a tactical field or headquarter role:
- INGO- UN agency- Int. governmental authority- LEMA
• 31% - Non-humanitarian responseIndividuals - for the sake of personal or general interest or research
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Part 2: Services - Alerting
In general, the service isconsidered reliable,fast and leads to action:
After receiving an alert, 58% of the respondents
reacts immediately An additional 20% reacts
sometimes
Preferred methods: 1) E-mail and SMS2) Daily newsletter
Least preferred:1) Fax2) RSS Feed
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
Improvements:- Quicker- Include name of region/ area
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Part 2: Services - Portal
In general, the service isconsidered useful, withrelevant and reliable content
Use: 48% accesses at least once per
day 13% accesses occasionally (few
times per month)
Most popular features:1) Impact reports2) News reports3) ReliefWeb situation reports
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
Least consulted sections: UNOSAT maps RSS, CAP and Google Earth Feeds
For all disaster types,especially the event sectionsof the Impact reports weremost appreciated
Improvements:- Technical functioning- User-friendliness- Visualisation of data- Lay-out
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Part 2: Services – Virtual OSOCC
In general, the service isconsidered useful, withreliable content
Use: Accessed less often than the
GDACS portal
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
Especially the disastersection is popular. Particularly,its UNDAC team section, thesituation overview section andthe coordination section wereappreciated.
Improvements:- Lay-out- User-friendliness- Technical functioning
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Part 2: Services - Maps
Most users consider the mapsto be sufficiently accurateand useful
Use: Especially used for monitoringactivities, situation and impactanalysis and mission planning
Improvements:- Delivery time- User-friendliness
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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Part 3: Usefulness and appreciation
Use of the system: (all services): 25% < 1 year 50% 1 – 3 years 25% > 3 years
Other topics of interest:1. logistics information2. disaster epidemiology
Other languages:- German- French
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
General conclusion:Overall system, including its fourservices, is meeting expectations.It is a reliable source of relevantinformation, with a great potential. It fulfils its mission of:
‘providing predictable information of predictable quality at predictable time’
Approximately 15% of the respondentsindicated that the system needs to befurther improved, and in particular thespeed at which data becomes available.
More research is needed to furtherimprove the system.
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Part II
Virtual OSOCC Analysis
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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Two case studies
• Cyclone NARGIS, Myanmar • Earthquake in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar
• Cyclone NARGIS, Myanmar– 2 to 3 May 2008– Affected 24 million people
Ayeyarwady Yangon
– 30 April: GDACS red alert
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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Cyclone Nargis
Visa and entrance problems: It became quickly evident thatresponders were hampered by localauthorities, however only limitedinformation was given on: Who was where? Who was given access and when? Which organisations were already
present in the field? Where there any alternatives (e.g.
ASEAN)
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
-Humanitarian access to affected areas is granted from within the country to organisations/ international staff already operating on the ground, however at the condition that they are accompanied by MRCS staff.”
- Some UN agencies like UNICEF, WFP and also IOM who were already present in Myanmar and currently engaged in assessment missions reported about restricted access to some affected areas.
who exactly?
where?
14 May, 13:13 - Eliane Provo Kluit, Winston Chang, Tuck Wah Ow Yong have obtained 5 days visas and will be arriving in country later today at 1845hrs Myanmar local time
14 May, 16:53 - Latest update on status of UNDAC team:
Eliane Provo Kluit, Winston Chang, Tuck Wah Ow Yong arrived in Myanmar, were granted 7 days visa, so far brief meeting with RC
same message adjusted?
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Cyclone Nargis
Example of confusion:123,000 euro from Italian government andchannelled through the IFRC. In theVOSOCC (one of the first lines) only itscommitment was mentioned, whereas lateron, it is mentioned that the 123,000 eurohad actually been delivered. duplication pollution of database
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
-To avoid duplication with the Logistics Cluster matrix on aircraft deliveries, the OCHA LSU table now contains additional details that are not yet in the Log Cluster matrix, such as information on pipeline (pledges, planned deliveries + on stand-by), or deliveries by means of transport other than aircraft.
Relief itemsNo one single, complete list, with a structured overview of what wasin the pipeline or already delivered.
Examples of other overviews:http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSBKK229608._CH_.2400http://ocha.unog.ch/virtualosocc/Documents/9506Myanmarin-kindcontributions,9May.xlshttp://ocha.unog.ch/virtualosocc/Documents/9573FTSupdate13May.pdf
http://ocha.unog.ch/virtualosocc/Documents/9525Aircraftoperations(reliefitemsreceived)110508.pdf
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Cyclone Nargis4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
Urgent - Cargo Space from SHJ to RGN on 18 May
Date: 2008-05-16 Source : Logistics Cluster Activities : Air Transport, Supply Chain Type of document : Flash News & Alerts Country : MM MMR 104 Myanmar
2 of the 4 flight rotations out of Sharjah airport, UAE (SHJ) to Yangon airport, Myanmar (RGN) with UNHCR cargo will have some opportunity cargo balance (total approx. 8 MT).
Additional cargo of humanitarian organisations can be airlifted to RGN free of charge.
Details as follows: Confirmed Balance available
IL 76 - 3rd flight 35,6 MT (approx. 4 MT) IL 76 - 4th flight 35,6 MT (approx. 4 MT)
Both rotations are planned for Sunday, 18 May 2008.
We will have aircraft positioning details from the operator @ 1200 CET.
If you are interested please contact XYZ ([email protected] , mobile +39 347 488 xxxx, office +39 06 6513 xxxx) ASAP directly.
LogisticsInitial focus on customs clearance, butoften information changed.
Later, more coordination activities(sharing capacity) actual purposeof VOSOCC
Although too late, useful referencewas made to the logistics cluster.
clear info provision
good example of coordination
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China earthquake, Chengdu
• Mon 12 May 2008, 6:27 UTC• 01:27 New York night• 08:27 Brussels new shift• 13:27 local time• 15:27 Tokyo• 22:27 (Sunday) LA night
• Magnitude: 7.9M (very strong) • Depth: 10km (shallow)
• Several strong aftershocks
• Location• 94km from Chengdu
• 9.7 million people within 100km• 30 million people within 200km
• Mountainous area• landslides, hydro-dams
GDACS system (times relative to event)
13min Detection of earthquake through USGS
14min GDACS Red Alert14min GDACS report published on-line
14-19min Email alert sent to 4500 users19-53min SMS alert sent to 2700 users30min GLIDE number created info
collection53-56min Fax alert sent to 100 users
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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China earthquake, Chengdu
GDACS system (times relative to event)
~1h Virtual OSOCC topic created1h20 UNDAC Alert Message
9h Media reports >1000 killed
1st day 1st IFRC Situation Report2nd day First OCHA Situation Report
18 May First satellite based damage map
Fatalities in the news
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
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ads
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
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China earthquake, Chengdu
• Virtual OSOCC much less used than for Nargis– No request for Search and Rescue– China took control
• Latest contact with China authorities
• Situation or Coordination?– Messages about situation and
coordination were posted in the situation section
4° GDACS Stakeholders Meeting, Geneva, 24-25 June 2008
After the first contact with the Embassy of China in Madrid, said embassy reported SAR to Spain that his government is not yet available to receive international aid. Also note that the Spanish agency for international cooperation remains tomorrow, Wednesday May 14 a meeting with NGOs to assess the aid. Number of contact for more information: +34 xxxxxxxx
On May 15, 2008:After the occurrence of M7.8 Earthquake on May 12 in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province, some countries expressed their willingness to dispatch professional rescue personnel to the earthquake disaster stricken areas to assist the rescue operation. Chinese side welcomes these kind offers, and would plan as a whole accordingly.
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Comparing both disasters
Cyclone Nargis China quake
Alerts of : UNDAC Team Alerts of : UNDAC Team
Situation Latest Update on our contacts with China Authorities
International Response Media reports
UNDAC Team Updates Contacts
Coordination Situation
Information Management Coordination
Logistics Information and Updates International Relief Teams
Appeals Relief Items
Contacts Maps provided by UNOSAT
Health Information and Updates Customised map requests
Media reports Latest Reports on ReliefWeb
International Relief Teams Latest Maps on ReliefWeb
Relief Items
Maps provided by UNOSAT
Customised map requests
Latest Reports on ReliefWeb = added section
Latest Maps on ReliefWeb
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Recommendations
• Standard Operating Procedures– Common terminology
E.g. stand-down; in country– Manage changes
E.g. visa of 3 days visa of 5 days– Providing headlines, with reference to
source Balance between summary and
detail– Where to post certain information
E.g. situation reports?
• Architecture and layout of application– Lists of pledges and relief items
More structured approach– Track people flow
• Integration with other systems and applications– Virtual OSOCC can integrate more
GDACS compliant sources News coverage OCHA situation reports
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Virtual OSOCC and Clusters
• Pre-cluster– Virtual OSOCC
• Post-cluster– Need for more integration– GDACS-like approach (system of systems)