Community Preparedness: Exploring Potentials of Emerging Technologies for Building a Culture of Resilience

• Published in: African Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (AJIE) Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 145 - 164
• Main Authors: Lauda Joel Goyayi, Maria, Osezua Ehiane, Stanley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd 01.04.2024
• Subjects: Application; Artificial intelligence; Attitudes; Communication; Community; COVID-19; Cultural change; Decision making; Disaster management; Disasters; Earthquakes; Emergency communications systems; Emergency preparedness; Floods; Health care; Hurricanes; Mass media; Mitigation; Pandemics; Population growth; Public health; Resilience; Risk management; Simulation; Social media; Sustainable development; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 2753-3131; 2753-314X
• DOI: 10.31920/2753-314X/2024/v3n1a7

Population growth, urbanisation, and growing environmental challenges add complexities to the decision-making process related to disasters. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic further accentuates these challenges exposing numerous vulnerabilities on communities in not only the global public health systems but also the global disaster management plans at large. Disasters such as floods, hurricanes, fires, and earthquakes have a severe impact on progress towards sustainable development. To reduce such impacts and enable timely responses to prevent, mitigate, or prepare against the disaster, in some cases, unconventional methods including tech-enabled methods such as virtual meetings, social media monitoring, virtual reality (VR) for training, and simulation gamification for public engagement may be required. Therefore, building the resilience of communities is critical for emergency and disaster management. In addressing the emanating disaster complexities such as multi-hazard events and social vulnerabilities thereto, the study examined the potential for building a culture of resilience informed by communities’ experiences and values, instead of being imposed from fusing emerging technologies. In doing so, the research explored emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), mobile application, Internet of Things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality (VR/VAR), and the like in supporting emergency and disaster risk management practices. The study focused on applying the concepts of resilience theory; it extracted various possible integrations of emerging technologies that are expected to foster a “soft” cultural change towards disaster preparedness over time. The research, therefore, identified potential applications of emerging technologies that support various disaster management phases of prevention, preparation, and mitigation. The article highlighted how emerging technologies can be used to facilitate the creation of emergency response plans; communication; conducting drills and exercises; and training of personnel and the community at large. As evidenced by previous disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic, the article uncovered numerous potential applications and challenges of emerging technologies for community preparedness and building a culture of resilience.