The emergency response intelligence capability tool

Abstract

The Emergency Response Intelligence Capability (ERIC) tool, http://eric.csiro.au, automatically gathers data about emergency events from authoritative web sources, harmonises the information content and presents it on an interactive map. All data is recorded in a database which allows the changing status of emergency events to be identified and provides an archive for historical review. ERIC was developed for the Australian Government Department of Human Services Emergency Management team who is responsible for intelligence gathering and situation reporting during emergency events. Event information is combined with demographic data to profile the affected community. Identifying relevant community attributes, such as languages spoken or socioeconomic information, allows the department to tailor its response appropriately to better support the impacted community. An overview of ERIC is presented, including its use by the department and the difficulties overcome in establishing and maintaining a nationally consistent harmonised model of emergency event information. Preliminary results of republishing the emergency event information using the Australian Profile of the Common Alerting Protocol, an XML standard to facilitate the construction and exchange of emergency alert and warning messages, are also presented.