Disaster Management Tool (DMT) - Usability Engineering, System Architecture and Field Experiments

Abstract

The Disaster Management Tool (DMT) supports information management during crises. It has been designed to support field workers, on-site coordination centers and headquarters by facilitating an efficient flow of information between them. In this paper we describe the functionality and architecture of the DMT and give insight into our development process over the last four years. The DMT has undergone extensive field experiments during a series of Assessment Mission Courses (AMCs) for coordination and assessment experts within the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Results and lessons learned from these experiments are presented.