MASDM – A Multi agent solution for disaster management

Abstract

In the context of large natural disasters like the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 or Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, the topic of disaster management has become a key concern both from a social and political point of view. Problem solving in an environment where a disaster has occurred is difficult and dynamic, requiring rapid decisions before, during and after the event. So a disaster management system should be capable of withstanding uncertainty, ambiguity and incompleteness given the dynamic and evolving nature of disasters. As a solution, a disaster management system based using agent technology has been implemented to provide proper management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all aspects of a disastrous situation; in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters. The system mainly consists of four agent swarms which are: forces swarm, aid store swarm, hospitals swarm and information providers swarm. Each swarm consists of number of agents whose tasks are explicitly defined. Agent interaction is the source of generating the intelligence. Agent communication, coordination and negotiation capabilities provide the ways and means of handling the complex nature of the domain.