Framework for Enabling Technical and Organizational Interoperability in the Management of Environmental Crises and Disasters.

Interoperability is a core component in management of crises and disasters. Crises require interoperability on several different levels: physical (communication, devices and tools), operational (crisis response procedures and protocols) and document level (information exchange). Here we present the Framework that facilitates interoperability on a level that relieves a crisis manager from most burdens related to crisis response (e.g., being available to access sensor data or communicate with other responders). The software components in the Framework are described, as well as the profiling approach that is necessitated for functioning interoperability at such a demanding level. The Framework can be implemented for dealing with environmental challenges through real-time monitoring and response. The frequency of disasters is expected to increase in the forthcoming future mostly due to environmental changes, thus emphasizing the need for interoperability approaches as the one presented in this paper.