Citation

Xu Z, Yuan Y, Ji S. Int. J. Emerg. Manage. 2009; 6(2): 227.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

10.1504/IJEM.2009.029248

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Notification is one of the major tasks for emergency responses. A timely and appropriate notification can save lives and significantly reduce damages. The importance of notification in emergency has been widely acknowledged. It is, however, challenging to make a quick and right decision on notification. In this paper, we propose a decision analysis framework for emergency notification with the 'six W Dimensions' (6WDs), namely 'when, where, who, why, what and how'. Within each dimension, we analyse the tasks, problems and criteria for decision making. A Decision Support System (DSS) is proposed for the notification decision within the 6WDs. The framework is applied in the case of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake with in-depth analysis.