SGER: Hurricane Katrina Debris Removal Operations: The Role of Communication and Computing Technologies

大规模灾难后废墟的性质和数量会给清理工作带来相当大的挑战，从而影响社会恢复。与碎片有关的风险可能会影响社会和技术系统，因此必须作为碎片清除行动的一部分加以管理。在建筑环境中发生碎片灾害时，可能会遇到与碎片清除设备和人员的安置和使用有关的挑战。通信和计算技术现在被广泛部署，以在清理行动期间为响应人员提供支持。然而，尽管有条件现金援助正在不断改进，但灾害继续给应急人员带来独特的问题，有时需要他们承担新的或扩大的角色，并在紧迫的时间压力下制定新的计划。为了能够在这种情况下有效利用可用的通信和计算技术，建议采用能够支持应急人员决定哪些技术最适合于支助应急活动的试探法。为此，本研究将观察并制定关于使用通信和计算技术(CCT)支持大规模灾难后碎片清除行动的建议。这项研究的主要智力价值在于测试任务-技术匹配理论的充分性，该理论规定了最适合支持各种类型任务的技术类型。理论测试将通过对与卡特里娜飓风有关的碎片清除行动中使用有条件现金转移技术的观察性研究，以及通过将这项研究的结果与2001年9月11日恐怖袭击后在世贸中心遗址进行的类似碎片清除行动的研究结果进行比较来完成。这项工作的更广泛影响包括就有条件现金转移如何更好地支持大规模灾害后的碎片清除行动提出有理论依据的建议。预计数据收集方法还将记录来自外地的若干创新，从而有助于工程实践。由此产生的理解应导致在如何利用有条件现金转移来支持各组织筹备、管理和学习大规模碎片清除行动方面取得进展。

ABSTRACTThe nature and quantity of debris following a large-scale disaster can create considerable challenges to cleanup efforts and thus to societal recovery. Risks associated with debris can potentially impact both social and technological systems and must therefore be managed as part of debris removal operations. When debris-inducing disasters occur in a built environment, there may be challenges related to the placement and use of debris removal equipment and personnel. Communications and computing technology is now widely deployed to support response personnel during cleanup operations. Yet despite ongoing improvements in CCT, disasters continue to present response personnel with unique problems, at times requiring them to take on new or expanded roles and to develop new plans under tight time pressure. To enable effective use of available communications and computing technology in such circumstances, it is advisable to have heuristics that can support response personnel in deciding which technologies are most appropriate for supporting response activities. To this end, this study will observe and develop recommendations on the use of communications and computing technology (CCT) in support of debris removal operations following a large-scale disaster. The study's main intellectual merit is in testing the adequacy of task-technology fit theory, which specifies the types of technologies that are best suited to supporting various types of tasks. Theory testing will be accomplished through observational study of CCT use during debris removal operations associated with Hurricane Katrina, and through a comparison of the results of this study to a similar one on debris removal operations at Ground Zero following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The broader impacts of this work include the development of theoretically-grounded recommendations on how CCT might better support debris removal operations following large-scale disasters. The data collection methodology is also expected to result in documentation of a number of innovations from the field, thus contributing to engineering practice. The resulting understanding should lead to advances in how CCT may be used to support organizations in preparing for, managing and learning from large-scale debris removal operations.