f. gehbauer , m. markus , h. engelmann , i. popa , c...

International Symposium on Strong Vrancea Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation Oct. 4-6, 2007, Bucharest, Romania

THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT TOOL (DMT)

F. Gehbauer1, M. Markus1, H. Engelmann1, I. Popa2, C. Schweier1, M. Rehor3, S. Werder3

ABSTRACT

The Disaster Management Tool (DMT) is a software system supporting decision makers, surveillance and intervention teams during disaster response. It is as well designed for training and mitigation tasks. As a result of the interdisciplinary German Collaborative Research Center 461: “Strong Earthquakes: A Challenge for Geosciences and Civil Engineering” the DMT consists of components resulting from the different research projects such as fast and reliable damage estimation using seismic data as input, use of up-to-date reconnaissance techniques such as automatic damage interpretation based on airborne laser scanning data, estimation of the trapped victims based on these reconnaissance techniques and the support of disaster management personnel with information and communication tools. The included decision support system helps to coordinate and allocate the limited response resources to enhance their overall efficiency. Onsite rescue operations are supported by an expert system analyzing damage information acquired after the earthquake, combined with data about the buildings’ construction and occupancy collected prior to the earthquake.

The system was tested by the emergency operations center staff and disaster response teams from Bucharest using real world data from a defined area in Bucharest, Romania. The concept of the DMT and the results of the tests are presented in this paper.

The German Collaborative Research Center 461 strongly works together with the Romanian Group for Vrancea Strong Earthquakes (RGVE), the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations of Romania and the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (Technisches Hilfswerk, THW).

INTRODUCTION

When urban areas are stricken by earthquake disasters and experience substantial destruction, the operable disaster response teams are overstrained in most cases. An efficient and integrated disaster management could support their activities and help to limit human losses. The Disaster Management Tool (DMT) is a multidisciplinary approach from the German Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 461; “Strong Earthquakes: A Challenge for Geosciences and Civil Engineering” to fulfill this task. The components of the DMT are results of different cooperating research projects within the Collaborative Research Center which strongly works together with the Romanian Group for Vrancea Strong Earthquakes (RGVE).

The Disaster Management Tool is a software system supporting decision makers, surveillance and intervention teams during disaster response. These actors can access basic data about building stock, residents and resources as well as dynamic data like seismic measurements, damage estimations and damage observations.

1 Institute for Technology and Management in Construction, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), 76131 Karlsruhe,

Germany – {gehbauer}{markus}{engelmann}{schweier}@tmb.uni-karlsruhe.de 2 The Ecological University of Bucharest, Franceză str. no.22, Sector 3, Bucharest, [email protected]

3 Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Englerstr. 7, 76131 Karlsruhe,

Germany – {miriam.rehor}{stefan.werder}@ipf.uni-karlsruhe.de

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It assists decision makers as well as rescue team leaders with decision support and intelligent communication tools. At the moment the DMT is tested with real data from Bucharest, Romania.

The DMT can be used for risk assessment using the damage estimation tool with expected seismic input as well as for the task of preparedness using the damage estimations for disaster response training and to pre-assess the needed resources. Further aspects, which are currently integrated, are new technologies of building retrofitting and optimization methodologies for urban building retrofitting programs with limited budgets. In this paper the different components of the DMT are described in brief.

CONCEPT OF THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT TOOL

The Disaster Management Tool has three main functional parts (see Fig.1). Each part consists of different components. All components are software tools which work together in the framework of the DMT. The first part is the “simulation part” comprising components for fast damage and casualty estimation, simulation of future progression of the disaster, like fire propagation and consequences of decisions. The damage and casualty estimation based on seismic data is performed by the component EQSIM (cf. Baur et al., 2001).

Figure 1. Model of the Disaster Management Tool (DMT)

The second part encloses components for decision support. Main components are a system for damage analysis based on airborne laser scanning as well as a damage and casualty estimation based on building stock data, residential data, and on the results of the damage analysis (for details compare (Schweier, 2007)). Two different expert and information systems support rescue activities at collapsed buildings and building state evaluation.

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A further component conducts cost-benefit analysis for building retrofitting measures. A decision support tool for Emergency Operations Center members, the DMT-EOC, provides help with the allocation of response resources in order to maximize the efficiency of response activities. The system supports the actors in the EOC by assisting the evaluation of the situation, giving advices for the assignment of resources and identifying potential flaws in the planning.

The third and last functional part is communication which is covered by the Management Information System (MIS) and Augmented Reality components. The MIS provides the graphical user interface of the DMT-EOC and assists the users accessing the relevant information for decision-making. It also provides a message system that enables the users to communicate with each other, including EOC members and field units. The MIS communicates directly or indirectly with the other DMT components to use their results as information input.

A common database model and the DMT Information Exchange Standard (DMT-IXS) ensure the interoparability of the different components within the DMT. All components use a common Oracle database to access static information like building stock data and to store dynamic data like observation results from different sources or locations. Backup databases are filed on the local computers depending on the components in use. Fig.1 shows the model of the DMT. The DMT-IXS is the standard format for information exchange in the DMT. It is defined as XML Schema (XSD) which is loosly based on standardized XML communication formats for emergency operations, namely MayDayML from the MESA Project (www.projectmesa.org) as well as CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) and EDXL (Emergency Data Exchange Language) from the OASIS consortium (www.oasis-open.org). The DMT-IXS lays the foundation for the interoperability between several DMT components. Nevertheless, the general disaster management scope of the DMT-IXS makes it also an appropriate starting point respectively inspiration for the definition of other emergency communication and information exchange formats.

APPLICATION OF THE DMT

The DMT uses an approach based on distributed computing over computer networks. It consists of different components that will be described in detail throughout this paper. Fig.2 provides an overview of the possible application areas disaster planning, disaster response and training simulation.

Disaster Planning

The main goal for the disaster planning application is to calculate disaster scenarios together with damage and casualty estimations to plan disaster response activities. This helps defining the need for personnel and equipment of response teams for the scenario event. For this DMT application, the component EQSIM for damage and casualty calculation and the database with building stock data, social functions of the buildings and transportation lifelines data are used. A GIS (Geographical Information System) workstation serves for inventory database administration. The parameters for damage and loss calculations may be entered at a different GIS workstation and a disaster response specialist uses a further GIS client for response scenario calculations e.g. fire propagation depending on deployed fire brigade units.

Disaster Response

The DMT can be applied for disaster response by the staff of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as well as by the field personnel. For the Emergency Operations Center, EQSIM calculates damage and casualty estimation based on the initial seismic measurements. This is the first dynamic data stored in the database in addition to the static


inventory stock data. This estimation allows the emergency operations center staff to assign response resources to the potentially most affected areas. Messages, orders and general information are distributed by the Management Information System (MIS) which enriches the data presentation with geographical information. Field Personnel is supported by the direct access to relevant data and by an expert system for rescue activities after building collapse. The Expert System Servers are located at or near to operation sites. The response teams use mobile computers or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants, small handheld computers) connected via wireless LAN to the servers to obtain case relevant data and advice. All observations are collected and processed at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and stored in the database to replace the first estimations by real observations. When available, observations from airborne laser scanning supplement the knowledge about the damage situation.

Figure 2. The application areas disaster planning, disaster response and training of the DMT

DECISION SUPPORT AND TRAINING FOR EOC MEMBERS

The decision support component EOC-ADVISOR is part of the DMT-EOC module. Based on RPD model – a naturalistic process model for human decision making – the system provides support for the different steps in the decision making process.

The system support starts with a structured evaluation of the situation at the different operation areas. As a result of the evaluation the system provides advice for the prioritizing of the operation areas and for the selection of the response resources to send. The user makes his perlimenary decision based on the advices which will be reviewed by the system for logical error. Additionally it can be tested by a simulation for their possible consequences. Based on the users plan for the resource allocation, fire propagation, clearing of blocked roads and the calculation of the rescue potential for search and rescue (SAR) is evaluated. The human decision maker reviews the system proposals and evaluation and based on this improves his decisions. When he found a satisfying solution, the system supports him by automatically sending the required orders to the selected resources.

The decision support component is implemented as a multi agent system combining different concepts from artificial intelligence, namely Belief-Desire-Intension (BDI) and inference engine with simulation techniques. For more details see (Engelmann, 2007).


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The DMT-TRAINER component provides a realistic and dynamic training environment for EOC members. Based on a damage scenario delivered by EQSIM, disaster environment simulators describe the development of fires and casulties during the exercise while interacting with the simulators for response resources. Simulated resources include SAR-teams, ambulances, fire fighting units, recon units and heavy equipment resources for repair works of blocked roads and rescue operations (Fiedrich and Gehbauer, 2004). The simulation is performed by different simulators. All components are linked via a distributed simulation, which is based on the High Level Architecture (HLA); compare (IEEE, 2000).

Further details about the data exchange between the DMT components, the simulation environment and the multi agent system are covered by (Engelmann et al., 2006).

CONCEPT OF RAPID DAMAGE DETECTION

One of the most important factors to plan an efficient use of SAR resources is the knowledge about the location, the extent and the characteristic of totally or partially collapsed buildings. Therefore, an automatic method for the detection and classification of building damage based on airborne laser scanning was developed within the CRC (Rehor, 2007, Rehor and Bähr, 2007). The airborne laser scanning technology (Wehr and Lohr, 1999) allows a rapid and extensive acquisition of height data without the necessity of entering affected areas (see Fig.3). Therefore, laser scanning data is very suitable as basis for a damage interpretation after disasters in large scale.

Figure 3. left: Principle of laser scanning; right: Screenshot of the expert system data input

The damage analysis is carried out by comparing planar surfaces extracted from post-earthquake laser scanning data with 3D building models composed of planar surfaces and stored as reference models for the endangered area in the DMT. Features like volume and height reduction, inclination change and size can be derived by superposing the planar pre- and post-event surfaces. These changes are further analysed and interpreted by means of a fuzzy logic classification approach.

During the classification process, building segments are assigned to a-priori defined damage types. These damage types are composed in a so called “damage catalogue” which was also developed within the CRC (Schweier and Markus, 2004, 2006). The damage catalogue contains a description of each damage type as well as qualitative and quantitative information about its geometric characteristics. In order to determine this information, pictures of buildings damaged by earthquakes were analysed. During this process it was taken into account that the described features can be extracted from airborne laser scanning data and that they can support Search and Rescue (SAR) organizations.


For the development of the damage detection and classification method, laser scanning data of a training area of the Swiss Military Disaster Relief was used. The particularity of this area is that real damaged buildings are located on it.

EXPERT AND INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR RESCUE OPERATION SUPPORT AND TRAINING

The rescue of trapped victims from collapsed buildings requires a substantial technical, personnel and organizational effort (Coburn and Spence, 2002). For training before an earthquake and operation support after the event, an expert and information system was created and tested with the THW (Technisches Hilfswerk, German civil protection organization) (Markus et al., 2000). It consists of the three components online manual, expert system (Fig.3) and calculation component. As component of the DMT, data-exchange with the central database and sending of reports according to the DMT Information Exchange Standard (DMT-IXS) is possible.

The resulting diagnosis includes advice concerning the processed case and links to specific entries within the information system. Case-relevant checklists can be printed and appropriate tools and methods are recommended. The expert system bases on the D3 server system application (Baumeister, 2004) developed by the Department of Computer Science VI, Würzburg University. The expert system was tested by professional users at model cases and at the ATLAS 2004 exercise. More details are described in (Markus, 2007)

EXPERT AND INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR BUILDINGS’ STATES EVALUATION

One of the main tasks after destructive earthquakes is, after the immediate search and rescue works, the evaluation of buildings’ states to avoid the use of unsafe constructions. The problem thereby is often that for the multiplicity of buildings needing inspections the number of engineers that are qualified for the assessment of seismically induced damage and have experience in this field, is too small (ATC, 1989). For this reason it is sensible to use a method for the evaluation of the buildings’ states that allows the participation of specialists with different experience levels in the evaluation of seismic building damage. Civil engineers, architects or similar with little experience in evaluation of seismically induced damage can be appointed as inspectors for most evaluation tasks, if they receive appropriate assistance.

Thus, the objective of our research in this field is to support the persons involved in this proc-ess by suitable developments in the way that with the existing human resources the inspection works are carried out as fast and reliably as possible. For this purpose an expert and information system for the field forces was developed, which leads and supports the inspectors at their work on-site. It helps the inspectors to decide reliably and in a short time whether the buildings after an earthquake are safe to be further used or not. Interactive checklists depending on the building type as well as further auxiliary material like e.g. construction plans support the inspectors to classify the buildings. So, persons with less experience in evaluation of seismic damage can be appointed for a part of the inspection works, especially if the system was used before the disaster at the training of the persons designated as inspectors.

One major aspect of this concept is the integration of the expert system into the Disaster Management Tool (DMT). This integration results from the adjustment to the DMT in terms of contents and from the connection to the central database of the DMT. On the one hand this allows the inspector, who performs the onsite building evaluation, to access information that has been collected in the forefront of the disaster and in the first days of disaster management. On the other hand this offers also many advantages for the people in charge at the emergency operation centre. They have information about the situation in the operational area already at the beginning of the building evaluation, which starts usually on


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the third day after the disaster, and are able to categorise the buildings and to prioritise the operations based on more facts. As there is a constant transmission of information about the already evaluated buildings, the executives are always informed about the current state of the works of all teams and thus they can dynamically adapt the organisation of the work to the progress of the work. Furthermore, in case of significant aftershocks, when a re-evaluation of buildings is necessary, this information can facilitate the reorganisation of the evaluation works.

More details about the expert and information system for buildings’ state evaluation will be published soon.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Information and communication are two key factors that have an essential impact on the efficiency of disaster management. Information serves as input for decision-making and includes static information, e.g. topography or building stock data, and dynamic information, e.g. position and status of damages or resources. Communication is important for keeping the situation picture up-to-date, for collaborative decision-making and for putting decisions into practice. The Management Information System (MIS) is a practical implementation of both information and communication for application in disaster management. The MIS integrates amongst other things a messaging system with a Geographical Information System (GIS) as well as resource and damage overviews. For a comprehensive overview of the MIS see Werder (2007).

Figure 4. Distributed collaborative architecture of the EOC-MIS and other DMT components

The Management Information System utilizes a client-server architecture approach. The distributed collaborative architecture is shown in Fig.4. The individual computers run the client programm of the EOC-MIS or the Field Expert and Information System (DMT-FIELD). The number of involved clients respectively participants is scalable meaning that additional participants can log on and off the system. The clients communicate with each other over a messaging system provided by a central messaging server. The messaging server also


Piata Romana

B-dul Unirii B-dul Unirii

represents the link to other DMT components such as the simulation represented by the EOC-TRAINER. The already described DMT Information Exchange Standard (DMT-IXS) is therefore used for both client-client and client-server interaction. The database serves as data source for static information, as exchange mechanism for results of other DMT components and additionally as an archive for the dynamic information, e.g. for recording all sent messages for later reference or evaluation.

Using a client-server approach and internet technology, EOC members don’t have to assemble necessarily at the same location in order to manage disasters. These members are then part of a so-called Virtual Emergency Operations Centre (VEOC). From the client’s point of view there is no difference between using the system from an external location and being physically present at the regular EOC. The same considerations apply to on-site units which can be connected to the messaging server via telecommunications protocols or via a satellite link (SATCOM). On-site also a wireless local area network (WLAN) can be set up.

TEST AREA IN BUCHAREST

The Disaster Management Tool is designed for urban areas. For the development and the testing of this tool, a test area was defined in the city center of Bucharest. The test area is part of the downtown district, located between Piata Romana and B-dul Unirii, where most of the damage occurred during the last destructive earthquake in 1977 (Fig.5). Data in a high-resolution was acquired for this area, including detailed information for each single building. The collected data was compiled in the central database of the DMT. The test area contains 1305 buildings with all kinds of social functions and 763 small, one-storey garages or stores, which are unoccupied.

The essential building information within the database for each single building:

- Street and number - Social function - Number of floors/ basements - Construction type and year - Construction details (floor type,

story height, etc.) - Potential soft storey with different

social function - Number of flats and number of

residents

Figure 5. Test area in Bucharest

The building stock of the test area was classified according to the HAZUS standard (National Institute of Building Sciences, 1997) concerning the social function and the construction types of the buildings. The HAZUS classification system for the construction types was enlarged by 14 European types which are not common in the United States.

THE ATLAS EXERCISES

The DMT was tested in the exercise ATLAS 2004 which was organized by the Civil Protection of Romania and the Collaborative Research Center. An earthquake in the Vrancea region causing building collapses in Bucharest was defined as exercise scenario. The exercise was divided into a two day Emergency Operations Center (EOC) exercise on


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urban level and a one day onsite operation exercise with search and rescue activities at a collapsed building. The 150 participants of both exercise parts were the persons who would be in charge after a real earthquake.

At the EOC exercise, the staff used the DMT component EQSIM to calculate first damage estimations. Consequently, response teams could be alarmed and sent in the stricken areas in an early phase of disaster response. Reports from the field were simulated as well as the behavior of the rescue resources and the consequences of the EOC orders.

The onsite operation exercise took place at an exercise area of the civil protection organization of Romania in Ciolpani. A situation of a collapsed building was prepared with prefabricated reinforced concrete units and further construction material. Additionally to the standard response teams for Urban Search and Rescue consisting of civil protection teams, fire brigades, Red Cross, gendarmerie and police units as well as a rescue helicopter unit participated. Three teams with each two technical advisors surveyed the rescue work using the expert and information system presented in a previous chapter.

The ATLAS 2007 exercise in October 2007 is similarly to the 2004 exercise divided into an EOC and an onsite operation exercise. The goals for ATLAS 2007 derive from the lessons learned in 2004:

- The scenario events are prepared in cooperation with different specialists from affected organizations to provide more realistic reports and more tasks for the EOC members.

- The software architecture is adapted to enhance data flow. - The different DMT components are better integrated. - Data exchange between the components is standardised using XML messages. - The training of the participants on the computer tools of the DMT is more intensive

and the user guidance of the graphical user interfaces avoids wrong input.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, the Disaster Management Tool was described as a promising tool for disaster response in an urban environment. The client-server architecture permits to use the DMT simultaneously by different users. It can be applied for disaster planning, disaster response, disaster response training and disaster mitigation.

The central database allows the users to avail steadily actualised data of the changing disaster environment. It is necessary for data exchange between the DMT components like Management Information System and the Expert and Information System. For simulation of response activities, the distributed simulators, EQSIM and the user interfaces communicate in case of training based on a High Level Architecture (HLA) framework.

The concept of the rapid damage detection and interpretation component using airborne laser scanning technology was presented and the two expert and information system supporting field personnel were described shortly. Then the information and communication in the Management Information system were introduced.

The first test of the DMT tool with local disaster management and response units in Bucharest was executed in October 2004. The exercise was divided into an emergency operation centre exercise and an onsite operation exercise. Demonstrating the benefit for the disaster response personnel, objectives for the integration of the remaining components and the need for further development were recognised. At the ATLAS 2007 exercise, the DMT with its incorperated improvements will be demonstrated.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research is part of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 461:”Strong Earthquakes: A Challenge for Geosciences and Civil Engineering”. The CRC 461 is funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and supported by the State of Baden-Württemberg and the Universität Karlsruhe (TH). The DMT is developed in cooperation with the Civil Protection Command of Romania, now the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, and the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). The authors would like to express their gratitude to all mentioned authorities for their support.

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