Disaster Management Knowledge Analysis Framework Validated

Abstract

In Disaster Management (DM), reusing knowledge of best practices from past experiences is envisaged as the best approach for dealing with future disasters. But analysing and modelling processes involved in those experiences is a well-known chal lenge. But the efficient storage of those processes to allow reuse by others in future DM endeavours is even more challeng ing and less discussed. Without an efficient process in place, DM knowledge reuse becomes even more remote as the effort incurred gets construed as a hindrance to more pressing activities during the execution of disaster activities. Efficiency has to also be pursued without compromising the effectiveness of the knowledge analysis and reuse. It is important to ensure that knowledge remains meaningful and relevant after it is transformed. This paper presents and validates a DM knowledge analysis framework (DMKAF 2.0) that caters for efficient transformation of DM knowledge intended for reuse. The paper demonstrates that undertaking knowledge transformation and storage in the context of its use is crucial in DM for both, effec tiveness and efficiency of the transformation process. Design Science Research methodology guides the research undertaken, by informing enhancements and how the framework is evaluated. A real case study of flood DM from the State Emergency Service of Victoria State Australia is successfully used to validate these enhancements