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4 open source emergency management tools for DR teams
Emergency management can be a hectic and expensive process. Open source tools can help keep costs down and pool information from a wide array of resources.
Emergency management has traditionally been based around pricey, purpose-built commercial applications. However, there are some open source alternatives available. Open source software is a natural fit for disaster management because, much like emergency response, open source tools are based on collaboration.
Of course, there are many different aspects to emergency management. Not surprisingly, the various open source emergency management software options vary widely from one another. Some are oriented toward disaster readiness planning, while other tools are geared more toward emergency response or long-term recovery.
To be included in this list, the software had to meet various criteria. First, only free and open source software was included on the list. While there are some excellent commercial disaster management tools available, they were not included.
A second requirement was that all the included tools had to be able to help either plan for or recover from a disaster. This means that while a planning tool might be fair game, a tool that only serves to push information to social media would not be included because it does little to help with the actual recovery.
Products are unranked, listed in alphabetical order.
Eden
The Sahana Foundation's Eden software is not an application, but rather an open source, modular codebase. The core codebase contains modules for building an organizational directory, managing human resources and tracking where the greatest needs are. However, these are not the only modules. Other modules fall under categories such as Emergency, Health, Logistics, Population and Collaboration. Collectively, these modules enable organizations to track resources, manage risks and perform assessments, along with many other key tasks.
The Sahana Foundation offers a free demo for businesses to see how they can use its open source emergency management software.
InaSafe
InaSafe is an open source project that was originally developed to help Indonesia assess the potential impact of natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions or tsunamis. Over time, however, the software grew into a platform that can be used by anyone. The overall idea behind the software is that understanding the likely impact of a disaster makes it easier to plan for disaster preparedness and response. This is a familiar concept to IT disaster recovery teams.
InaSafe uses data from a wide variety of sources. Hazard data, for example, is pulled from government databases, universities, community resources, science agencies and other public sources. Similarly, exposure data comes from governments, mapping agencies and national statistical agencies. Data is also sourced from other data repositories such as OpenStreetMap. This data can be used to plot evacuation and emergency response routes.
The InaSafe interface is designed so that disaster data can be overlaid with mapping data. For example, the software could show the effects of a flood similar to the one that hit Jakarta in 2007. The simulation could then reveal affected areas and the damage that could be realistically expected from such an event. This is critical information that can be included in risk assessments and business impact analyses.
OpenStreetMap
The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team has created a global-scale, street-level map that is open source. While there are plenty of free road maps available online, such as Google Maps, there are a few things that make OpenStreetMap different.
First, the maps produced by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team are all community-created. Second, and most importantly, the maps are specifically intended for use in humanitarian and crisis management situations. OpenStreetMap U.S., for example, is a nonprofit organization that uses the program to map areas within the U.S. Its Explore Projects page outlines current projects building map data for areas that have been affected by natural disasters.
This tool is best suited to organizations that have data and staff in areas prone to natural disasters, such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
ThinkHazard
ThinkHazard is an open source tool that businesses can use to assess the primary risks that exist in a particular geographic area. A simple web interface lets users search for an area by name, then tells them if that area is prone to disasters such as hurricanes, volcanoes or wildfires.
While the website does provide access to global hazard data, there is a corresponding open source tool available on GitHub. For organizations that are looking for remote office or database locations, this tool can be helpful to take disaster preparedness into account.
Brien Posey is a 22-time Microsoft MVP and a commercial astronaut candidate. In his more than 30 years in IT, he has served as a lead network engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and a network administrator for some of the largest insurance companies in America.
