Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System GDACS survey results & Virtual OSOCC analysis

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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


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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


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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


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


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


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


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


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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


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


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Two case studies

• Cyclone NARGIS, Myanmar • Earthquake in Chengdu, Sichuan, China


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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


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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)


-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


-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


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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

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• 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


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)

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System GDACS survey results & Virtual OSOCC analysis

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