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Subject: Re: [emergency-msg] CAP dictionary issues


At 06:36 PM 6/2/2003 -0700, Art Botterell wrote:
>[...]
>At 6:17 PM -0500 6/2/03, Weltman, Jerry wrote:
>>Cap:event_cat: What is the purpose of this element? Is it to indicate which
>>organizations would be responsible for handling the alert?
>
>It's chiefly to allow receiving systems to determine whether its a message 
>to which that device should respond, and secondarily to inform message 
>routing systems.  And to provide a categorization for later indexing too, 
>I suppose.  Basically for any automated process that cares about hazard 
>type but isn't brainy enough to interpret the free-text description in 
><event_desc/>.
>
>The current list is definitely up for discussion... I've been told there's 
>a standard list of 23 or so hazard types out there somewhere... maybe 
>someone can provide a pointer?

In working on the Disaster Help Portal just about one year ago, we checked 
around and could not find a consensus standard for hazard types. Here's 
what we have done.

Our primary objective is to support searchers in the discovery of 
information sources and services relevant to Disaster Management. We regard 
the Disaster Help Portal as a "referral service", i.e., it helps searchers 
link to information sources and services of other organizations. 
Accordingnly, a key part of the Portal is a set of "referral records", each 
describing an information resource relevant to disasters.

The referral record set is, in effect, an annotated bibliography or catalog 
of information. So, we documented "Cataloging Notes" to guide those who 
create the referral records. Here below is an excerpt of the Cataloging 
Notes that addresses four aspects by which each referral record is categorized.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

There are four category data fields as part of each referral record: Role 
in Disaster Management, Phase in the Disaster Management Cycle, Type of 
Disaster Event, and Place of Interest. Each category field can contain 
values as described below.

   1.    Role in Disaster Management: The "role" category of the referral 
can take one or more of six defined values. These values are recorded as: 
"citizen", "business", "non-government", "non-Federal", "Federal", and 
"media". Usage of these values is discussed in "Scope Notes (role)" below.
   2.    Phase in the Disaster Management Cycle: The "phase" category of 
the referral can take one or more of four defined values. These values are 
recorded as: "preparedness", "response", "recovery", and "mitigation". 
Usage of these values is discussed in "Scope Notes (phase)" below.
   3.    Type of Disaster Event: The "type" category of the referral can 
take one or more values from a list of disaster event types. These values 
and their usage are discussed in "Scope Notes (type)" below.
   4.    Place of Interest: The "place" data field of the referral record 
can take one or more values that characterize the place of interest as a 
location on the surface of the Earth. These values are designated either by 
named place (e.g., "Montana") or by latitude/longitude coordinates. These 
values and their usage are discussed in "Scope Notes (place)" below.

Two special values are also defined across all four categories: "any" and 
"unknown". The value "any" means that this referral record should be 
regarded as matching any of the values defined for this category. The value 
"unknown" means that this referral record does not have an assigned value 
for this category. Therefore, every valid referral record must have at 
least one value (including the value "unknown") for each category.

Scope Notes (role) -

The "role" category distinguishes among various roles that a person or 
organization may have with regard to Disaster Management. From the 
perspective of an information or service provider, such a role might be 
regarded as a "target audience". A particular searcher, of course, does not 
think of himself or herself as a target audience. Rather, the searcher uses 
the role category to differentiate among perspectives that vary according 
to different roles.

   citizen: Use this value if the referral content is not designed for any 
of the other, more specialized roles. This includes anyone needing 
information as a family member or individual victim of a disaster. Note 
that the word "citizen" is merely a shorthand label and there should be no 
implication of distinction as to the searcher citizenship.

   business: Use this value if the referral content is designed for persons 
or organizations whose perspective would be as a business affected by a 
disaster.
non-government: Use this value if the referral content is designed for the 
many organizations that are active in the field of disaster management but 
are not affiliated with government. The American Red Cross is one such example.

   non-Federal: Use this value if the referral content is designed for 
officials of State, local and Tribal governments. This includes, but is not 
limited to: political and civil service leadership; emergency managers; 
homeland security advisors; and first responders (e.g., law enforcement, 
firefighters, emergency medical services).

   Federal: Use this value if the referral content is designed for 
officials of U.S. Federal government agencies, or others officially 
designated to act in such capacity.

   media: Use this value if the referral content is designed for 
journalists, reporters, and others members of the media.

Scope Notes (phase) -

The "phase" category distinguishes among four parts of a cycle that 
progresses over time. Prior to the actual occurrence of a disaster event, 
the dominant disaster management activity is "preparedness". As the event 
unfolds, disaster management actors become involved in the "response" 
phase. There is a period of "recovery" following the response to the 
disaster event. The "mitigation" phase then occurs as disaster management 
improvements are made in anticipation of the next disaster cycle.

   preparedness: Use this value if the referral content is designed for the 
preparedness phase, when governments, organizations, and individuals 
develop plans to save lives, minimize disaster damage, and enhance disaster 
response operations.  Preparedness measures include preparedness plans; 
emergency exercises/training; warning systems; emergency communications 
systems; evacuations plans and training; resource inventories; emergency 
personnel/contact lists; mutual aid agreements; and public 
information/education.

   response: Use this value if the referral content is designed for the 
response activities that follow an emergency or disaster. Such response 
activities are designed to provide emergency assistance for casualties, to 
reduce the probability of secondary damage, and to speed recovery 
operations.  Response measures include activating public warning; notifying 
of public authorities; mobilizing emergency personnel/equipment; emergency 
medical assistance; manning emergency operations centers; declaring 
disasters and evacuating; mobilizing security forces; search and rescue; 
and emergency suspension of laws.

   recovery: Use this value if the referral content is designed for the 
disaster recovery activities, which continue until all systems return to 
normal or better.  Recovery measures, both short and long term, include 
returning vital life-support systems to minimum operating standards; damage 
insurance/loans and grants; temporary housing; long-term medical care; 
disaster unemployment insurance; public information; health and safety 
education; reconstruction; counseling programs; and economic impact 
studies. Information resources and services include data collection related 
to rebuilding, claims processing, and documentation of lessons learned.

   mitigation: Use this value if the referral content is designed for the 
disaster mitigation activities, which actually eliminate or reduce the 
probability of occurrence of a disaster, or reduce the effects of 
unavoidable disasters.  Mitigation measures include building codes; 
vulnerability analyses updates; tax incentives/disincentives; zoning and 
land use management; building use regulations/safety codes; allocations and 
interstate sharing of resources; preventive health care; and public 
education. Information resources and services important in mitigation 
activities include GIS?based risk assessment; claims history; 
facility/resource identification; land use/zoning; and building code 
information.  Use of modeling/prediction tools for trend and risk analysis 
is also important.

Scope Notes (type) -

   biological: an intentional or accidental disaster event caused by a 
biological agent such as anthrax.
   chemical (Used For: poison, pollution, toxic, hazmat, contamination): an 
intentional or accidental disaster event caused by a chemical agent such as 
a poisonous gas.
   civil (Used For: refugee, riot, war)
   disease (Used For: epidemic, pandemic)
   drought (Used For: climate, water)
   earthquake
   electric utility  (Used For: power outage, blackout)
   explosion (Used For: bomb)
   fire (Used For: wildfire, forest fire, urban wild-land interface)
   flood
   food (Used For: famine)
   gas utility
   hurricane (Used For: tropical cyclone, typhoon)
   internet (Used For: cyber crime, cyber attack, cyberspace)
   landslide (Used For: avalanche, mudslide)
   nuclear
   ocean or coastal (Used For: iceberg, tsunami, coastal hazard, algal bloom)
   oil spill
   radiological (Used For: nuclear reactor, dirty bomb)
   severe weather (Used For: blizzard, dust storm, hail storm, heat wave, 
lightning, storm, snow storm, wind)
   space (Used For: asteroid, geomagnetism, magnetic storm, space weather)
   terrorism
   tornado
   transportation (Used For: airplane, highway, ship, train, aircraft)
   volcano

Scope Notes (place) -

   1.    place names - The named value of "place" may be drawn from two 
sets of names: states of the United States and nations of the world. The 
place "United States" indicates an area spanning more than one state or 
territory of the Unites States. The place  "international" indicates an 
area spanning more than one nation. The area associated with the place 
value will be converted to "bounding box coordinates" for searching 
purposes. Therefore, the place value must be the largest area that 
encompasses all relevant areas. For example, if a referral for hurricane 
tacking includes Caribbean nations in addition to parts of the United 
States, the appropriate value for place would be "international".

   2.    place coordinates - The latitude/longitude value of "place" is 
recorded as an ordered set of four decimal values. For example, the state 
of Montana can be designated by latitude/longitude as (49.61 -116.66 43.75 
-103.44). The four values correspond to: northernmost latitude, westernmost 
longitude, southernmost latitude, and easternmost longitude. Latitude 
coordinates range from -90 (south pole) to 90 (north pole). Longitude 
coordinates are negative from -180 to zero west of the prime meridian 
(defined by the position of Greenwich, England), and positive from 0 to 180 
east of the prime meridian. Typically, the values are generated through a 
pre-defined list of named place coordinates, or through an interactive 
facility that allows the cataloger to outline an area on a map.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Eliot



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