Performance evaluation of disaster monitoring systems

Understanding the performance of disaster monitoring systems is a key to understanding their success; therefore, various qualitative and quantitative measures and metrics can be applied in the characterization and analysis of such systems. Through evaluation studies, problems that impede a disaster monitoring system performance can be identified. The results can be used for system design, control, and capacity planning. Previous studies address technical performance analysis metrics for analyzing monitoring systems leaving out human and organizational dimensions of such systems. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to identify and describe a set of metrics that may be employed to evaluate such systems. This study may be valuable to researchers and practitioners involved in disaster and emergency response studies in planning the transportation of vital first-aid supplies and emergency personnel to disaster-affected areas and in improving chances of survival after a disaster. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011