On modeling the emergency management process: Conceptualizing disaster planning and recovery

Online resources and mobile applications are available to assist individuals with preparing for and recovering from various types of emergencies such as manmade and natural disasters; however, it can become a tedious task searching through webpage after webpage of data to find the information pertaining to one´s situation. Various mobile applications are also available for download; however, one must question the validity of the information presented by many of these applications. Trust is very important when it comes to activities that can result in one´s survival. In this paper, we present the development of conceptual maps that provide graphical, quick views of disaster planning and recovery activities from deconstructed federal emergency preparedness-related websites. In addition, current disaster planning and recovery mobile applications are evaluated and analyzed to gauge their use/non-use, and improvements to the applications are provided. Each of these applications will aid in the design and implementation of a government, data-driven disaster planning and recovery model and mobile application created using conceptual modeling techniques.