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Project:
Responding to Crises and Unexpected Events (RESCUE)
PIs: Sharad Mehrotra, Professor, Information and
Computer Science, UCI; and Ramesh Rao, Professor, Electrical and Computer
Engineering, UCSD, and UCSD Division Director, Calit2
Funding: National Science Foundation & Caltrans
Division: UCI and UCSD
Academic: Univ of Illinois, Univ of Colorado, Brigham
Young Univ, and Univ of Maryland
Corporate Partner: ImageCat
Community Partner: Cities of Los Angeles, Irvine,
and San Diego; County Partners: of Los Angeles; State of California
Start Date: October 1, 2003
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Recent firestorms in southern California - described in aggregate
as the "worst natural disaster in southern California history" -
have underscored the importance of being able to respond to natural
or man-made disasters in a timely and effective manner. Doing so
can reduce the number of deaths and injuries, contain or prevent
secondary disasters, and reduce resulting economic losses and social
disruption. Crisis responders need to gather situational information
(e.g., state of the civil, transportation, and information infrastructures)
and resource information (e.g., available medical facilities, rescue
and law enforcement units). Clearly, there is a strong correlation
between the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of the information
available and the quality of the decisions that are made.
"This project truly embodies the spirit of Calit2. It is
a multidisciplinary, multi-organizational effort on a problem
of national importance. Working closely with the first-responder
community, we expect our research will transform the speed and
accuracy with which information flows through disaster networks
during crisis situations. Timely access to accurate and relevant
information has the potential to significantly enhance the abilities
of first responders to save lives and properties."
- Sharad Mehrotra, PI, UCI |
The goal of
Project Rescue is to radically transform the ability of responding
organizations to gather, manage, use, and disseminate information
within emergency response networks and to the general public. Using
more robust information systems, response can focus on activities
that have the highest potential to save lives and property.
This kind of radical transformation requires a multidisciplinary
approach that applies the power of information technology based
on understanding of how emergency organizations form and work together
in crisis situations. Therefore, this program teams researchers
with expertise in information technology, social sciences, organizational
behavior, and disaster management. They will gain "ground truth"
to support their research and ensure its usefulness by working closely
with the first-responder community. For example, testbeds for evaluation
will be deployed in partnership with the police departments of San
Diego and Irvine, and the California Office of Emergency Services.
The team is hopeful that their approach to building situational
awareness using speech-to-text, data extraction, and notification
could prototype the next-generation 911 emergency system and benefit
the nation even under less traumatic conditions.
Contact: Sharad Mehrotra, sharad@ics.uci.edu,
949-824-5975; and Ramesh Rao, rrao@ucsd.edu,
858-822-4572
Website: http://www.itr-rescue.org/
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