SGER: Addressing the Data Management Challenges of Disaster Information Management Within the Context of a Pilot National Data Center (NDC) for Sri Lanka

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The December 26, 2004 Sumatran-Andaman earthquake and subsequent tsunami led to the discovery of two critical scenarios. There is a deficit of information management systems within the government sector countries on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Globally, there is no disaster management software that can handle a variety of disaster information management needs. This project explores intellectual challenges of data management, in the context of Sahana, an open source disaster information management system that was deployed in Sri Lanka within days of the disaster. The first challenge is the design of the data management component for disaster information management. While database design is not a challenge, understanding the scope of information that should be accessed during and after a disaster is a challenge. The second challenge is a plan for data acquisition, data cleaning, integration and quality, in the context of a National Data Center (NDC) for Sri Lanka. While solutions to similar challenges have been reported in the literature, the lack of computerized information management systems in Sri Lanka makes the task a challenge. This US research team has expertise in wide area database management (Raschid) and open source development and Web services (Weerawarana). Karunaratne from the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) and Madurapperuma from the the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka provide domain expertise. The need for broader impact is met via the development of open source global disaster management systems and the design of a national information infrastructure for Sri Lanka. The project Web site http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/labs/CLIP/Handle/SGERtsunami.html is to be used for communication about the exploratory project and for disseminating results.