Last modified: 2016-10-02
Abstract
As the disaster management community grows, so too does the need for a smart disaster community where all researchers in the field can coordinate, collaborate, and interact to develop and deliver the best outcomes for wider society. In the area of disaster management research there are many organizations, groups, centres and individual researchers working towards the common goal of improved disaster management practices through disaster risk reduction, minimizing and mitigating against the impacts of disasters, better responding to disasters, and developing resilient communities. In order to ensure that these groups are not working in isolation, a networked approach is needed to facilitate sharing, collaboration, engagement, integration, and to minimize duplication and isolation of research. A Global Disaster Management Platform is one possible solution to address this growing need – a platform that can bring together and connect disaster management specialists, disaster management groups, and international organizations dedicated to this field, and enable them to share and collaborate on disaster management issues. The Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety at the University of Melbourne proposes to develop such a platform, which aims to increase awareness of the advances, developments and initiatives underway in the area of disaster management while connecting disaster management research at the global level. The Global Disaster Management Platform (GDMP) is based around a vision for this rapidly growing field: more sharing, increased collaboration, and enhanced awareness of the current research taking place. A platform such as the GDMP has the goal to facilitate the expansion of international collaboration and engagement resulting in long-term research and training activities, and to provide a forum for researchers to share and become aware of different disaster related research taking place. Under the GDMP researchers from all countries and all organizations will have a platform to list information about their research and view and learn of other research taking place worldwide. So far, in the development of the GDMP, the focus has been on facilitating collaboration with Asia, Latin America, and wider societies for the development of disaster management research and engagement. As part of these developments, two international events – one in September 2014, and a second in October 2015, have been held to help formulate the GDMP. The events enabled the showcasing of research and breakthroughs in the field of disaster management and the opportunity to foster engagement and support collaboration between local and international industry, government and academia. These events attracted participation from over 15 countries, and at a small scale demonstrated the value of international collaboration and engagement in the area of disaster management research. This paper will detail the establishment of a Smart Disaster Community enabled through the conceptualization and development of a Global Disaster Management Platform.
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References
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