A Decision Support Framework for Improving Cross-border Area Resilience to Disasters
Final Report Abstract
The aim of the INCA project was to increase the resilience of border regions by developing a decision support framework. The underlying assumption was that disasters do not stop at (national) borders. The scenario of a large-scale, long-lasting and cross-border power failure was taken as a basis for this. To this end, the project examined the cross-border cooperation of authorities and organizations with security tasks, which is necessary for effective management of cross-border disasters. In addition, the focus was on the cross-border involvement of spontaneous volunteers and the effects of the power outage on medically dependent citizens. The following research questions therefore guided the project: What is special about cross-border disaster scenarios? How can the resilience in border regions be increased? How is the cooperation of crisis management actors across borders organized so far? How can the cooperation be improved? How can cross-border resources be combined in a meaningful way? How can spontaneous volunteers be integrated across borders and what are the cross-border effects of a power failure on medically dependent citizens? A multi-method approach was used to answer these questions. With regard to cooperation, empirical data was collected by interviewing experts and observing exercises. Furthermore, experts from border regions were questioned on the preparation of disaster scenarios. A quantitative survey conducted with a representative sample of the French and German population was used to determine the population's attachment to the border area and their willingness to become active as volunteers. A tabletop exercise gave insights into the behavior of affected persons with and without health restrictions. In addition to this, different scenarios for cross-border coordination of emergency response personnel and their resources as well as spontaneous volunteers were modelled by an agent-based simulation as it allows to analyze the dynamic resulting from the interplay between individuals with different characteristics. These studies were supplemented and extended by the French research partners. It became apparent that there is no comprehensive cross-border solution between two countries around Germany or France in the area of crisis management. Rather, different actors, strongly dependent on the different administrative levels of the countries, have aimed for individual local solutions. The forms of cooperation ranged from no cooperation, via informal cooperation, to partially institutionalized cooperation within the framework of Committees such as the Upper-Rhine Conference. In the context of the population survey, a great willingness to provide spontaneous assistance across borders as spontaneous volunteers could be identified, also due to a possible common cultural identity that may develop in borderlands. The tabletop exercise showed in case of a disaster an urgent need for the authorities to warn and timely communicate with the population, also across borders. Furthermore, the simulation highlighted the importance of a common language as well as trust among the collaborating agents to increase efficiency. The research on medically dependent citizens uncovered that this problem is not specific to border regions, but that more fundamental solutions need to be developed. Therefore, no comprehensive analysis was carried out in the course of the project. The dissemination of the research findings into disaster management practices is carried out through established relationships with the various stakeholders in the analyzed border regions. Results are presented to the scientific community through publications and additional joint activities, like an interdisciplinary Call for Papers to a special journal issue dedicated to the topic of borderland resilience and the organization of a research track at a scientific conference.
Publications
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(2017). New Decision-Support Framework for Strengthening Disaster Resilience in Cross-Border Areas. In T. Comes, F. Bénaben, C. Hanachi, M. Lauras, & A. Montarnal (Chairs), ISCRAM 2017 - 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) (pp. 412-419), Albi, France.
Lotter, A., Brauner, F., Gabriel, A., Fiedrich, F., & Martini, S.
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(2018). A Multi-Agent System for Studying Cross-Border Disaster Resilience. In K. Boersma & B. Tomaszewski (Chairs), 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) (pp. 135-144), Rochester, NY (USA)
Klein, M., Rigaud, E., Wiens, M., Adrot, A., Fiedrich, F., Kanaan, N., Lotter, A., Mahdavian, F., Schulte, Y., & Schultmann, F.
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(2018). A Multi-Agent System to Improve Resilience of Critical Infrastructure in Cross-Border Disasters. In IFoU 2018: Reframing Urban Resilience Implementation: Aligning Sustainability and Resilience, Barcelona
Klein, M., Mahdavian, F., Wiens, M., & Schultmann, F.
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(2018). Challenges in Establishing Cross-Border Resilience. In A. Fekete & F. Fiedrich (Eds.), The Urban Book Series. Urban Disaster Resilience and Security: Addressing Risks in Societies (pp. 429–457). Springer International Publishing
Adrot, A., Fiedrich, F., Lotter, A., Münzberg, T., Rigaud, E., Wiens, M., Raskob, W., & Schultmann, F.
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(2018). Lageinformationen aus den sozialen Netzwerken: Virtual Operations Support Teams (VOST) international im Einsatz. Notfallvorsorge(2), 1–9
Fathi, R., Schulte, Y., Schütte, P. M., Tondorf, V., & Fiedrich, F.
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(2019). Kritische Infrastrukturen und grenzüberschreitende Herausforderungen einer vernetzten Gesellschaft. Notfallvorsorge(1), 7–13
Fathi, R., Schulte, Y., & Fiedrich, F.
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(2020). Borderland Resilience Studies. In A. Hughes, F. McNeill, & C. W. Zobel (Chairs), ISCRAM 2020 – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) (pp. 338-355), Blacksburg, VA (USA)
Rigaud, E., Adrot, A., Fiedrich, F., Kanaan, N., Klein, M., Mahdavian, F., Schulte, Y., Wiens, M., & Schultmann, F.
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(2020). Communication blackouts in power outages: Findings from scenario exercises in Germany and France. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 46, Article 101628
Mahdavian, F., Platt, S., Wiens, M., Klein, M., & Schultmann, F.
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(2020). Measuring social resilience: Trade-offs, challenges and opportunities for indicator models in transforming societies. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 51, Article 101799
Copeland, S., Comes, T., Bach, S., Nagenborg, M., Schulte, Y., & Doorn, N.
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(2020). Spontaneous Volunteers Across National Borders: An Agent-Based Comparison. In A. Hughes, F. McNeill, & C. W. Zobel (Chairs), ISCRAM 2020 – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) (pp. 327-336), Blacksburg, VA (USA)
Schulte, Y., Klein, M., Wiens, M., & Fiedrich, F.
