A disaster involves many different actors. For example, first and second responders, citizens, companies and government agencies. How do you ensure that the cooperation between these actors and thus the management of disasters and crises runs as smoothly as possible? Organization scientists Kees Boersma and Nathan Clark will investigate this in the research project 'Innovating Preparedness by Leveraging SYNERGIES and Enhancing Results of Disaster Resilience Management (DRM) Projects'. They have received a grant for this research project under the EU Horizon programme 'Disaster Resilient Societies'.
When it comes to disaster preparedness, there are five needs that the researchers will focus on. These are the involvement of relevant actors, education and training, communication with citizens, management of spontaneous volunteers and ensuring the sustainability of solutions for preparedness.
With this research, Boersma and Clark intend to promote preparedness with the coherent and, as the project title suggests, synergic involvement of the different actors in disaster management. The actors involved in disaster management can include first and second responders, citizens, local communities, scientific institutions and public and private organisations.
Boersma and Clark research resilience through three case studies. First, Réunion Island, a French region in the Indian Ocean, whose climate and geology expose it to various risks, including tropical storms, landslides, floods, tropical diseases and volcanic eruptions. Secondly, Malta, which location places it on a main migrant transit route for those seeking asylum or refugee status. And finally, the Netherlands, which is exposed to different types of hazard risks, notably flooding, strong storms, and drought due to its low-lying, coastal location.
Boersma and Clark are proud of the new project. "We see this as recognition of the output of one of the European DRM projects, LINKS, for which we are responsible. In this project, we investigate how crisis communication and the relationship between emergency responders and citizens can be improved through the use of social media and crowdsourcing."
The VU Amsterdam researchers participate in the case study research and are responsible for the work package on legal and ethical issues in the project. The project has a three-year duration and a total budget of about five million euros, of which 10 per cent is for the VU team. The consortium consists of multiple partners, both from academic institutions and practitioners representing different stakeholders in disaster management.