Negotiation Issues in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

Proceedings of the 32nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 1999Proceedings of the 32nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 1999

Negotiation Issues in Multinational Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief

Tung BuiUniversity of Hawaii, Manoa

Honolulu, HI [email protected]

Sungwon ChoUniversity of Hawaii, Manoa

Honolulu, HI [email protected]

Michael SovereignNaval Postgraduate School

Monterey, CA [email protected]

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AbstractLarge scale Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relie

(HA/DR) operations often require the intervention anaid of various agencies from all over the world. As result, HA/DR operations involve many negotiation ancoordination issues. Although a number of studies haemphasized computer assistance for negotiations, remains unclear how such information andcommunication technology could be employed HA/DR operations. This paper presents a framework fodeveloping a Global Information Network (GIN) forHA/DR operation. It derives a set of functionarequirements and proposes system components for Gthat would facilitate HA/DR operations.

1. Introduction

As the flood in China in 1996 and the recenearthquake in Afghanistan in 1998 have demonstrateno one is immune from major disasters [11][8]. “Naturadisaster claim an average of 25,000 lives and caudamages in excess of $3 billion per year” [5]. Aneffective crisis management plan should take seriousinto consideration the potentially devastating results major disaster. Major disasters often require extensihelp from all over the world, in particular those thaoccur in developing countries. For example, often thU.N. and U.S. military have played an important role iHA/DR operations. However, such a diversity oparticipating HA/DR agencies may also cause thnegotiation and communication problems. Manresearchers and practitioners in crisis management argthat the development and use of a GIN could beffective in alleviating problems due to communicationbreak down. The GIN can facilitate a smooth flow otimely information and assists among various HA/DRoperation communities.

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The organization of this paper is as follows: sectionpresents an overview of issues related to HA/DR. section 3, negotiation issues involved in HA/DR adiscussed. Section 4 considers characteristics of HA/Din developing countries. Section 5 discusses systerequirement for developing an Information Network foHA/DR. In section 6, the paper discusses a framewofor Information Network for HA/DR. The paperconcludes with a brief discussion in section 7.

2. Issues related to HA/DR

HA/DR operation is a daunting task because addition to the diverse nature of participants involved operations (Figure 1), great problems lie in makindecisions under uncertain circumstances. Situatiobecome worse when involved agencies are unsure abtheir role and go their own way without coordinatinwith others [7]. The following are issues involved iHA/DR operations [3].

Importance of information exchange amonginternational entities

The main challenge of current HA operations hamore to do with the context in which HA operationtake place [9]. With their information, the aid staff whcomes to the rescue for a short time are going to tadecisions that have lasting impact on damaged apopulation [9]. So, the quality and timeliness oinformation they have may influence the long-termdevelopment of affected areas.

During a complex emergency situation, whether bnatural or technological disaster, a description of tevent, its consequences, the needs, the resporequirements, and the gaps in national capacity to hanthe crisis are strongly needed [9]. News media cprovide quick information. But they are short oanalysis. A disaster

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Figure 1. Actors involved in HA/DR operation [3]

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WHO World Health Organization

UNDP United Nations Development Program

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assessment team should try to provide analysis baseda sound understanding of the facts so as to influence strategic decision and the use of resources [9]. Tanalysis should be timely, impartial, transparent, anparticipatory [9].

Severity to international staffsDisaster brings severe grief to damaged ar

population and even to rescuers. People die. Homes working places are destroyed. Some disasters evcause injuries, hunger and interruption of essentpublic service. Furthermore, authority and control coubreak down. When it happens, the situation migescalate into a chaotic circumstance where peopbehave illogically, and often this chaotic situation endwith more destruction and loss of life. Victims are nolimited to the local population. More often than notrelief workers risk their lives during their duties.

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Coordination complexityWhen quick and massive responses are required,

single organization has all the resources to alleviate problem. Many organizations are involved in HAoperations, and organizational arrangement is oftcomplex. In the recent Haiti operation RestorDemocracy, for example, there were over 40organizations in action. Supra-nationals, locagovernment, military units-all must find some way tcooperate or at least not to disrupt others’ activitBecause of the high number of participating agenciecommand structure is often hard to achieve. The ad-hmixture of participants is likely to lead to a situationwhere no one is in charge.

Agency competitivenessMany of the organizations involved in HA operation

see themselves as competitors. Although such competition may bring positive results, often it hinder

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cooperation among various organizations in action. may result in undesirable consequences, such as waof resources or unnecessary redundancy of actioOrganizations have a tendency to inflate their owimportance and give too little emphasis to info sharinand coordination [9].

Bureaucratic constraintIt is often difficult for the participants to cooperate

even without competition. Even when individuarescuers from different agencies are willing tocooperate, the organizational, legal, bureaucratic, abudgetary constraints hinder cooperation. Thesconstraints often prevent harmony among participanand the timely execution of missions.

Military interventionMilitary services are often called for assistance. The

tend to have unmatched human and logistic resourcThe structural difference between military and nonmilitary organizations often makes it difficult tocooperate among them. While military organizationtypically have staffs at three different business leve(strategic, operational, and tactical), many non-militaragencies have only the equivalent of strategic antactical levels. Therefore, it becomes difficult to findcounterparts with whom to discuss the middle-leveplanning for a military standpoint.

In February 1976, an earthquake measuring 7.5 the Richter scale struck Guatemala. About 23,00persons were dead or missing. In September 197Hurricane David devastates the economy of Dominica,small Caribbean island with 90,000 inhabitants. Thhurricane left 80% of the population homeless [7]. Ithese two instances, the public and private sectogenerously and spontaneously joined forces to assist victims. But these incidents demonstrated thinadequacy of response mechanisms traditionally bason the concept of military chain-of-command rather thacoordination in the civilian sector. These tragediedemonstrated clearly that vertically organized responoperations to emergencies had limitations [7].

Releasability of security information andtransparency

In principle, HA operations should be transparent teveryone, including the local populace. The lack osharing security information can threaten the lives othose who work among the local populace. Recently, Rwanda and Chechnya, HA workers have been targeand killed without proper protection or even awareneof the threat. Over a thousand HA/DR workers have m

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violent ends in the past decade. These events have lemore efforts for better coordination on security issue.

Short-versus long-term perspectivesThere can be a significant difference in perspecti

between the organizations who may have been workin long-term development and HA/DR operation teamwho are more concerned about short-term rescactivity. This is true when short-term HA operationdisrupt the long-term self-reliance of a specific regioAlthough minor disruptions are inevitable, if HAoperations can be done in a short time before losituation is distorted, the disruption can be minimized.

Communication incompatibilitiesEven if all the HA participants try to do their bes

there are cultural and technical incompatibilities. Thmay use different language and incompatible equipmeIncompatible communication devices are an especiaserious problem. The use of widely acceptecommercial communication systems may ease thproblems. But the risk of ‘up-to-dateness’ oinformation still exists. Also, rigid hierarchy of militaryorganizations may lead to misunderstanding with tnon-military organizations which are relatively free orank.

Information standardization needsFor a better exchange of information, we need

standardize information and ensure interoperability [9Narrative-style reporting makes it difficult to extract keoperationally-relevant information [9]. We need tformat information to avoid info overload. More worneeds to be done on data standards/definitions sucwhat was meant by “affected population”[9]. There aalso needs for training if people are to interpret info adeal with overloaded information [9].

Information distortionDuring the disaster, information is likely to ge

distorted. If a lot of information flows into a fewdecision-makers, the overloaded information can madecision-makers focus only on selected sources. Anotcause of info distortion is loss of information over londistance. While passing through multi hierarchicsystem, Information contents can be lost.

3. Negotiation issues in internationalHA/DR operations

Most disaster situations require quick and massresponses. However, as no single organization has

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the resources to alleviate the problems, help from maorganizations in HA operations are often requiremaking the operation more complex. Furthermore, maorganizations involved in HA are competitors with theiown agenda. They want to show their special value providing public support. Each competitor attempts toutperform the other. Also, there are varying levels mistrust, misrepresentation of facts, and incompleinformation exchange among participants. Differenceamong involved parties in perceptions, cognitionvalues, interests and needs are causes of conflicts.

Organizations’ awareness of the conflict can appeeither at the goal, judgement, or solution levels [1]. Goconflicts occur when a party seeks divergent oincompatible ends.

Judgement conflicts differ from goal conflicts, inthat, while parties may share the same goal, thdisagree over the best way of achieving it. Differencoften resides in different interpretations of the samfactual information. Parties may believe that they havinformation which the others do not have. They presumthat others may have come to an incorrect assessmand conclusion regarding that information [4]. Majorityof negotiation issues in HA/DR operations fit to thicategory.

Normative conflicts occur when one party isapparently perceived as violating the standards or noradopted by others. These problems may also rise HA/DR operations because many groups with differecultural backgrounds cooperate in HA/DR operations.

The acceptance of solution is a function of the exteto which parties perceive that the proposed solution satisfactory. This kind of negotiation issue often occuin HA/DR. There can be significant difference inperspective between the organizations who may habeen working in long-term developmental activity anHA/DR operation teams who are more concerned aboshort-term rescue activity.

Negotiation issues emerge throughout variouHA/DR operation stages. In the initial stage, mutuaagreement with needs assessment is necessary. accurate information about the situation or disaster placritical role in this stage. During the action stageparticipants might need to negotiate for the actiopriority. Disagreement about means or ends constitutesource of conflict. In addition, as there are limiteresources, negotiation of resource allocation might still needed. Organizations find it difficult to allocatescarce resources. Also, need for negotiation come for the implementation of a course of actions. Finallythe very existence of organization is another source conflict because of the inherent nature of thorganizational decision making process.

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4. HA/DR in developing countries

Developing countries are often more vulnerable natural and man-made disasters and need more outassistance than developed countries. Many organizatiwill be likely involved in HA/DR operations indeveloping countries. Therefore, the importance coordination and negotiation is more evident in HA/Doperations in developing countries,

Previous research shows that extent of damacaused by the natural disaster is greatly influenced environmental, social, economics, and political contexin which it occurs [5].

“Interestingly, about 95% of death caused bynatural hazards occur in developing countries,and natural hazards rarely cause a large numberof deaths in industrialized countries. Forexample, recent hurricanes in the United Statesor typhoons in Japan have not caused more than500 deaths. Even devastating Hurricanes Hugoin 1989 and Andrew in 1992 caused less than 50deaths each in the Untied States. On the otherhand, cyclones in Bangladesh sometimes resultin a large number of human lives being lost.500,000 people were killed by a 1970 cycloneand140,000 persons were killed by a 1991cyclone.” [5]

These differences imply that economic, social, acultural characteristics play important role in reducinrisk of death during natural disaster. Developincountries have different social and human environmefrom developed country such as U.S. or Japan. Thinferior infrastructure, transportation, public healtsystems, or inferior education systems tend to mamitigation of natural disaster more difficult.

A number of factors may be responsible to explawhy the developing countries are more vulnerable natural disasters than developed country [7].

Acceptance level of riskSome developing countries do not invest

mitigation efforts, but follow a “pay-the- price-later”philosophy, and choose to wait for the consequencedisaster. The more developed countries may havegreater conscience of importance of disastmanagement. They invest more in mitigation anprevention. They also have more resource availableenforce legislation that might reduce the vulnerability.

Political and administrative stabilityDisaster reduction has few immediately visibl

benefits until major disaster actually occurs. Therefo

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economic investment on disaster reduction requirpolitical maturity and administrative stability. Harmonyand history of joint working relations between civil anmilitary sectors are also important [7].

Availability of resourcesPoverty increases a population’s vulnerability

Vulnerability can be reduced with even a modeeconomic investment. However, lack of human anfinancial resources limit the implementation omitigation and prevention measures [7].

Inferior technologyAlthough warning and preparedness have be

shown to be important in reducing tornado death U.S., there were no warning systems and preparednprograms for tornadoes in Bangladesh. The lack appropriate technology in Bangladesh is one of treasons why so many people died [5].

Low level of educationIn December 3,1984, at a Union Carbide pesticid

plant in Bhopal, India, there was a fatal leak opoisonous gas. Within a few days, there were more th2,000 deaths and more than 200,000 injuries. A simptechnique such as placing a wet cloth over the facould have prevented countless deaths [2].

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Insufficient infrastructure and transportationInsufficient infrastructure often hinders the proces

of disaster relief. For example, after cyclone iBangladesh, most people could not get proper meditreatment immediately. Some of the reasons include small capacity of hospital, lack of equipment, no pavroad, lack of transportation, no emergency electricservice [5].

Cultural differenceFor example, fatalistic attitude toward nature als

affected high death ratio during cyclone in BangladesThe people in tornado affected area in Bangladesh wdeeply religious and considered the tornado an actGod. This fatalism could cause people to avoid takian action to mitigate natural hazard [5].

Developing countries try to increase their capaciand decrease their vulnerabilities through developmeAnd, the concept of sustainable development is widerecognized recently. Sustainable development is outcome of comprehensive planning that incorporatconsiderations of reducing hazards and vulnerability well as strategies to protect the environment and improve economic growth, level of education, and livinconditions of the population [7].

Figure 2. Factors affecting HA/DR operations in developing countries

Acceptance Level of Risk

InferiorTechnology

Low Level of Education

Insufficient infrastructure& Transportation

Cultural Difference

Availability ofResource

Political and Administrative Stability

Quality ofDecisionOutcomes

Quality ofCrisis Mgt

Process

ProblemFormulation

Group-think

CognitiveAbilities

HA/DR AgencyUnit Isolation

Stress

OrganizationalMemory

InformationQuality/Overload

Degree of Org.Readiness

Coordination LevelBetween Units

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5. Systems requirements for developing aGlobal Information Network for HA/DR

Information technology could be effectively used resolve the above issues. The capability to colleanalyze and disseminate information effectively iscritical success factor for HA operations in modern agAlthough technology alone cannot solve all thproblems, it is often true that technology can facilitathe collaboration of equipment and organizations. fact, new technology can change the way in whiHA/DR operations are approached and they aexecuted. Desirable capabilities in HA/DR operatioare discussed in this section [3].

Prediction of disasterPrediction of natural disasters and severity of disas

can facilitate the planning, training, stockpiling fomedical and supply. One of the characteristic of Hevents is its diversity. Variety of HA event comes nonly from the type and severity of disaster, but also frothe local environment, economy, and cultural diversof participants. These variety makes prediction mocomplex.

A worldwide database or predictive model is needto draw most from the previous limited number orelated events. Database may need sensor systemsome of databases might need space observaAlthough the cost needed for construction of suchdatabase or model might be tremendous, it could compensated by saving of invaluable human life aproperty.

In the long term, more precise and sophisticatprediction mechanism that enables many disasters toavoided will be possible. The higher economic standawill also facilitate the ease of HA/DR because malives are lost due to the secondary effect after disasuch as prevalence of diseases that are preventable.

Timely and specific warningWarning must be timely and specific to loca

authorities in defined disaster region. Because disaster’s inherent characteristics, local authoritshould make quick decision in limited time. Howeverepeated false alarms could lead population to ignorewarnings. Accurate warnings are thus critical.

New efforts should focus on improved fusion andissemination of information on top of the sensinformation. Systems that perform prediction aexpected to merge with those in charge of issuiwarnings.

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Collection of accurate and timely reportingContradictory or late information hampers decisio

making and frustrates rescue workers. Althoucommunications can be often hampered by the damto communication systems, training of participants the communication equipment can lead to instaimprovement without much cost. Also, the use interoperable systems with local systems will cost leand be easier to train on.

Humans are often accountable for erroneous repoIn the long term, remote-sensing system such as acouand seismic sensor may replace human observationreporting.

Also, local ground-based sensors often fail when thare needed in disaster, because they could be eadamaged in a disaster and not accessible. On the ohand, remote sensing of weather or other environmand the effects of the disaster can avoid this limitatioAlong with this remote sensing capability, wide spreadissemination of the reports will be very useful.

Total asset visibility and logisticsCurrently, the movement of relief supplies depen

on transport arrangement made by particuorganization. Backlogs in port are common. If possibjust-in-time supply of equipment will reduce the neefor inventory and loss due to spoilage.

In order to achieve total asset visibility, extensivmonitoring and tracking capability is required. Althougmuch of these capabilities can be brought into the aby participating organizations outside, having the regipermanent capability should improve local economy terms of participating the global network otransportation and communication.

Remote medical expert supportDisasters often accompany the numerous injuries a

diseases. However, often the damaged areas, especdeveloping countries, suffer from the lack of medicservice. And, they need extensive supports from outsparticipants.

Remote-medical support such as diagnostics, pubhealth, patient monitoring and tracking can redutransportation needs and save time. This remote sercould be implemented over the high bandwidcommunication system that can transmit image asound of local area to the area where medical expactually exist. In the long term, this capability could bextended in emergency condition to a large populatat risk.

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Prediction and detection of the security needsMany non-military organizations have tended t

assume they were safe until proven otherwise. It necessary to track local opinion and incidents weenough to protect against all the threats. Synthesisreports and trends information from on the scene wmake projection more clear.

Infrastructure repair and transport deploymentPrediction and direction of infrastructure repair need

and transport deployment is considered to be essentThe critical infrastructure includes telecommunicationpublic utility (power, water, sewer), emergency serviceconstruction, transportation, food/ fuel distribution, anmedical support,

Often the precise status and best strategy for repainot clear in a crisis situation. Although there exismonitoring systems for network and shipment, thintegrated system with the real time input is difficult tobuild. Again, interoperability based on commerciasystem is strongly required.

In the longer term, integration of infrastructuresystem database and monitoring system seems tobeneficial. This integrated system will allow real timereporting and control in emergency situation. Alsoremote diagnostic and work will be possible in neafuture.

Real-time collaborative planning andcoordination

During emergency, each organization works idifferent location. So, if a system that can shalocation of activities, inventories, service available, anschedule should be built, it will make collaborativeplanning and coordination easy. Often transportatioarrangement is the key in coordination. Currently, theare commercial systems available for this purpose. Bstill interoperability issue and security concerns remain

Communication to damaged area populationDuring disaster, rumors and unreliable

information/communication often complicate theHA/DR operations. Therefore, communication withaffected population is strongly required in order to avopanic and to guide them to relief. Although there asome techniques available, they require training aprovision of receivers in the field. In addition, morereliable communication channel that can survive aftdisaster will be needed.

With its popularity and power, the World Wide Webmay serve as the communication channel with thpopulation. But it is not yet clear whether WWW isvulnerable to various disasters. In severe case, remot

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operated Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) may badequate as a messenger between affected populaand HA authority instead of usual broadcast systems.

6. A Framework for GIN for HA/DRoperation

6.1 Needs for GIN

A common denominator of all the activities inconnection with a disaster prevention and responseinformation. The ability to match the resources with thenvironment is obviously dependent on gooinformation and its management. Also, many Hexperts emphasize need for practical tools areasonable technology to support decision-making [9].

Another key issue in HA/DR operations is searchinfor a way to achieve unity of efforts and bettecoordination across the variety of organizations HA/DR operations. The architecture must serve the fset of participants: Foreign government and military, thhost nation, NGOs, and UN. Obviously, thinteroperability is a major concern. Interoperabilitbetween host nation and other participants is particulaimportant.

One possibility would be Internet based architecturThis would be a fast and convenient capability given appropriate infrastructure. Other things that could considered as tools for HA/DR operations includsecurity issues, GPS based navigation/trackinlanguage translation, and Geographical InformatioSystem (GIS).

During recent HA/DR operations, a lot of HAparticipants found the Internet a very useful tool fodissemination as it was inexpensive for macommunications and easy to reach to new audience could ease language problem. However, use of Internet in crisis situation is not always easy. Thnetworks under these conditions are chaotic. The otissues include channel overload, reliability, security. Tsolve inaccessibility to the network, It may be necessato build or repair a cellular system to support damagarea.

In recent UN’s relief activities in Great Lakes crisiof Central Africa, which include civil war in Burundiand continued insecurities in Rwanda, thedemonstrated the importance of information network HA/DR operations. The UN’s Integrated RegionaInformation Network (IRIN) for the Great Lakes regionsignificantly eased pre-existing information flowdifficulties in collection, distribution, and use oinformation among various sectors. [10]

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6.2 Concept of Virtual Information Center(VIC)

Through numerous HA/DR operation experiencemany HA/DR experts have reached the similar idea“Virtual Information Center” [3]. All the participantswill communicate with each other over the IP basenetwork for cooperation. In information aspects, GISbased information concepts is emphasized. Manexperts also emphasize need for an information anchdesk to broadly retrieve and fuse field data into usefinformation for the HA/DR community. They alsosuggest group-ware to support the needs for assessmprocess. Modeling of needs plus tracking of material van interagency Relief Net was also recommended

This concept of the center originally initiated by TedOkada [3]. In his report, “Refugee repatriation inGoma/Gisenyi Noember 1996: The case of Humanitarian Extranet.”, he suggested virtuaInformation center concept. His concept begins witbaseline surveillance instruments and work up througGIS and remote sensing to integrated Web-basgroupware attached to PVO Extranet that is connectto the Internet. His basic concept is to have one-stshopping for information for every participant. VirtualPrivate Network will provide necessary security anVery Small Aperture Terminal satellite networksupports the participants of the net. The center concedraws heavily from his idea [3].

The VIC operates as following. It is a virtual anchodesk because of difficulty of getting involves all theparticipants into a real anchor desk. The VIC woulsupport all the participating HA/DR operationcommunity. Terminal will be tangible object in the field.Behind this, there are network and one or more huwhere human expert or database exist, probably far frothe scene. It can contain classified and unclassifieinformation together. It would be interactive rather thapassive information search, because discussion wrepresentative of various organizations will be necessain some cases. The hub will gather source data, analythem and filter them to identify what is important in thecontext of situation. This analyzed information will bepassed to the every participant in HA/DR action [3].

In 1996, The UN department of Humanitarian Affairs(DHA) developed ReliefWeb(http://www.reliefweb.int), a new World Wide Web siteon humanitarian emergencies. The information in thform of appeals, assessments, evaluation, map, prrelease, situation reports, etc,. is organized accordingemergency situation or event. It also manage thinformation overload problem by organizing document

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in ways that user can retrieve specific information [However, the ReliefWeb has significant limitationAlthough it may be useful for the pre-crisis phases ainformation repository, it is still insufficient to act ainformation center during crisis-response phase.

6.3 Three phases of HA/DR operations

Following three phase of HA/DR operation is useto understand information requirement and requicomponents of GIN [12].

Pre-crisis Phase• Establish and maintain close working relation ship

with other HA organizations.• Establish and maintain chains of coordination with

regional/national networks.• Foster common understanding of relief coordinati

policy.• Organize and manage the collection and updating

basic data on hazards and disaster.• Monitor disaster related information sources for

early warning purpose.

Crisis phase• Information exchange• Coordination of planning• Dissemination of relief requirements

Post-crisis phase• Finalize reporting and evaluation.• Dissemination of lessons learned.• Facilitate the institutional hand-over for transition

activities.• Propose adjustment of existing tools and

procedures.

6.4 Communication, control, command processin GIN

Figure 3 relates the four processes of command,control, consultation, and coordination to four systemsof communications, computers, intelligence,surveillance as well as final product of cognition(knowledge) and information [3].

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Figure 3. Relationship between processes and GIN components (Adapted from [3])

6.5 Integration into GIN

VIC concept can be integrated into GIN. GIN doesnot only act as information repository but also as

integrated information center for communicationscoordination, and decision support purpose. Table shows the proposed components of GIN.

Table 1. Components of GIN

Phases of HA/DR operationSupport typePre-Crisis Crisis response Post-crisis

Information -Remote sensing & warning-Data standardization-Document management-Needs assessment-Integration of infrastructure systemdatabase

-Real-time Information center-GIS-Data standardization

-Dissemination of activityresults-Dissemination of lessonslearned

Communication -Electronic discussion group-Satellite network-Dissemination of help request toexpert group world wide

-Knowledge based informationfiltering-Teleconferencing

Collaboration/coor-dination

-Group/event scheduling-Coordination with regional/nationalnetwork

-Computer assisted logistics(tracking, monitoring)-Just-in-time support-Group/event scheduling-Coordination of planing-Security(VPN)-Language translation

Medical support -Public health education-Information about major diseases

-Remote diagnosis/patientmonitoring

Decision focus -Group decision support system-Computer assisted voting system

GIN Components

Cognition Information

Control

Command

Consultation

Coordination

Products

processes

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Figure 4. Concept of GIN for HA/DR

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7. Concluding comments

Major disasters often require extensive help frorescuing agencies from all over the world. Fdeveloping countries, the global effect is inevitabHowever, the diversity of participating HA/DR agenciis also source of miscommunications and failnegotiation. Many experts have emphasized the needa central information center that is capable to retrieand fuse data into useful information for the HA/Dcommunity.

Analyzing the negotiation issues involved in HA/Doperations, this paper proposes a set of sysrequirements for developing a GIN for HA/DR. It alsdiscusses the framework within which GIN can employed to facilitate the information exchange amoagencies. Finally, this paper proposes necescomponents of GIN and suggests how GIN can effectively applied to the different phases of a typicHA/DR operation.

References

[1] Bui, T. & Shakun, M. (1996). “Negotiation Processes,Evolutionary System Design, and NEGOTIATOR.”Group Decision and Negotiation. 5. pp. 339-353.

[2] Hale, Joanne. (1997). “A Layered CommunicationArchitecture for the Support of Crisis Response”. Journalof Management Information Systems. Vol.14, No1. PP.235-255. Summer 1997.

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[3] Sovereign, M. G., “Humanitarian Assistance and DisasterRelief in the Next Century”, Workshop Report (October28-30, 1997)

[4] Thomas, K. (1992). “Conflict and Negotiation Processes inOrganizations.” In Dunnette(ed.) Handbook of Industrialand Organizational Psychology. Palo Alto, CA:Consulting Psychologists Press.

[5] Schmidlin, T. & Ono, Y., “Tornadoes in the districts ofJamalpur and Tangail in Bangladesh” Quick responseReport #90,http://www.Colorado.EDU/hazards/qr/qr90.html

[6] Disaster Management on the Internet,http://www.paho.org/english/ped/pednewen.htm

[7] A World Safe from Natural Disasters,http://www.paho.org/english/ped/peddisen.htm

[8] Dateline ACT Afghanistan: Assistance forearthquake victimshttp://wwwnotes.reliefweb.int/files/RWDomino.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/5f48234351b5bf2fc1256620052be2a?OpenDocument

[9] Rapporteur's summary of proceedings-InternationalSymposium on The Role of Information in HumanitarianCoordination,http://wwwnotes.reliefweb.int/Websites/RWDomino.nsf/e823591109a5388c12564e3003008d4/519270ec9f457191c156540002ec402?OpenDocument

[10] Strategic Humanitarian Coordination in the Great Lakes,1996-1997: An Independent Assessment,http://wwwnotes.reliefweb.int/files/rwdomino.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/000dca5d5e654e6cc1256600042c27d?OpenDocument

[11] Flood devastation spreads in China,http://www96.reliefweb.int/emergenc/china/source/cnn/news/070896.html

[12] Relief Co-ordination Branch Regional Desks,http://www.reliefweb.int/dha_ol/programs/response/rcbdesk.html

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