Authors are invited to submit manuscripts that present original unpublished research on using ICTs for detection, prevention, preparation, response and recovery of disasters. There will also be invited presentations by experts from academia, industry, and government as well as special sessions dedicated to case studies, demonstrations and experiences based on pragmatic approaches. This way, the conference will provide a forum for supporting and encouraging both academic researchers, as well as practitioners involved in applied‐focused research. The conference topics are (but not limited to):

Communication Systems for Disaster Management

• Infrastructures, technologies and services for distributed crisis management teams and organizations
• Mobile and wireless communication networks
• Hastily formed networks (MANETs, Mesh, VANETs, Sensor, …)
• Opportunistic communications
• Multi-platform and multi-sensor data collection
• Infrastructure protection and security
• Interoperability of heterogeneous systems

Coordination and Collaboration Technologies and Systems for Disaster Management

• Collaborative information systems architectures, frameworks, technologies
• Collaborative decision-making under stress, time pressure and limited resources
• Service Oriented Architectures for collaboration
• Ontology approaches
• Contextual and situation-based collaboration
• Security and privacy concerns in information sharing
• Cloud computing for disaster management
• Pervasive and mobile computing
• Social media and networks for participation and collaboration
• Modeling and simulation of collaboration

Data/Information Management and Analysis for Disaster Management

• Querying and filtering on heterogeneous, multi-source streaming disaster data
• Human-system interactive information extraction
• Uncertainty and possibly adversity in data handling and delivery
• Context-awareness information analysis and extraction
• Data mining from multiple information and huge sources
• Mining and making decisions on time-evolving and uncertain data
• Crowd sourcing
• Trust and information credibility in social networks
• Damage and loss assessment
• Post disaster needs assessment

Geo-Information Technologies for Disaster Management

• Geospatial information technology and geo-collaboration
• Situation awareness
• Web mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Integration of data: building information models (BIM) and GIS
• Standardization developments (models, icons, symbols)
• Visualization and visual analytics
• Evacuation and rescue geo-planning
• Open source data and space based resources to support disaster management

Preparation and Mitigation for Managing Disasters

• Prediction and early warning
• Remote sensing
• Risk assessment, modeling and simulation tools for crisis situations
• Healthcare crisis information systems
• Multimedia-based communication skills for citizens and civil servants
• E-government and population education

Practices for Risk Reduction and Rapid Response in Developing Countries

• ICT in emergency planning and civil protection
• Case studies, particular incidents and learned lessons
• Benchmark and case studies in e-governance for disaster management
• Case studies of the use of social media and networks
• Innovative uses of technologies adapted to the readiness status of developing countries

Important Dates