Improve information provision for disaster management: MONITOR II, EU project

Abstract

Management of natural hazards constitutes a common challenge in most countries of the world. Until now, neither hazard mapping nor contingency planning have been transnationally coordinated and defined. Such gaps will be addressed in the Monitor II project (founded by the EU - South East Transnational Cooperation Program) with the development of a common methodology dealing with risk assessment and risk management. The project partnership has so far carried out the following activities and achieved the following results: review of best practices in hazard mapping and contingency plans; definition of information needs and information flow in different phases of risk management; definition of novel concepts for the creation of simplified scenario models in the process, damage and intervention domains. In the project we will develop a Continuous Situation Awareness system, as software that supports disaster management in the different phases of the risk cycle. Within the broad range of hazards, Monitor II specifically deals with floods and landslides, but the concepts of the project could be applied to other types of hazards. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.