Coordinating Disaster Relief Operations Using Smart Phone / PDA Based Peer-To-Peer Communication

Abstract

During any post-disaster period, the availability of the Internet is ruled out in most cases, mobile phones are only partially usable in some selected regions. Candidate devices for maintaining minimal services are mostly expensive satellite phones or specialized point-to-point radio communication systems. As communication systems become crippled, so do the management of the relief operations. One of the common problems during disasters is that the rescue and relief operations are not well-coordinated. For this reason, there is a need for a system that will help in the efficient distribution of rescue and relief to disaster-affected areas. The objective of this paper is to propose a smart-phone/ PDA based disaster management system based on peer to peer communication only and supporting disconnected operation.