ICTs in the context of disaster management, stakeholders, and implications

Since the beginning of this century, humanity has been hit hard by violent forces of nature and the irrational behavior of human beings. Devastating hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons, wars, and senseless acts of terrorism have caused irreparable losses of human life and<br>property. Specifically, the genocide in Sudan, Hurricane Katrina, Indian Ocean tsunami, Myanmar’s cyclone, terrorist attacks targeting the USA World Trade Center, London buses, and Madrid train station, America’s war on Iraq share the common denominators of shock, suffering,<br>horror, despair, and insufficient capabilities for disaster management. How can countries manage such crises and recover quickly? For Schultz (2004), countries with well-developed systems that feature - (1) better infrastructure, (2) advanced distribution, transportation, and communication networks, (3) more goods and services, (4) more highly trained personnel, (5) better crisis management, and (6) political leadership genuinely committed to people’s welfare - will suffer less damage and can recover fast. Although one could argue that the USA has one of the better systems in the world, evidence from the past few years suggests that even in the case of the USA,<br>much more needs to be done. In fact, in the decade since hurricane Katrina, the criticisms of the crisis management efforts continue (Comfort et al., 2010).