Chapter 18
Bridging the Information Gap: Mapping
Data Sets on Information Needs in the
Preparedness and Response Phase
Marc Jan Christiaan van den Homberg, Robert Monné
and Marco René Spruit
18.1 Introduction
The poor face different levels of impact when exposed to natural hazards than the
nonpoor (Hallegatte et al. 2016). In addition, data on the risks poor and vulnerable
face and the actual impact they experience is often lacking. The digital divide plays an
important role in this as developing countries and within these developing countries,
the poor and vulnerable have less access to digital technologies (Leidig and Teeuw
2015). Apart from technological reasons, there are also political and social reasons.
For example, the poor often get their income through the informal economy, and
their land and resource rights are usually not registered.
This lack of data affects the actions of different actors in the preparedness and
response phase. Three main actors can be distinguished in the response and preparedness phase (van den Homberg and Neef 2015). The affected community are the
people directly and indirectly adversely affected and in need of urgent (humanitarian) assistance. The responding community consists of local or outside community
members that support in relief or recovery but are not trained in crisis response.
The responding professionals are part of the professional community in the field of
disaster management, such as national and local governments, NGOs, and national
crisis coordination centers. All these three groups have to decide based on the data
and information available to them—in the period just before the disaster hits—which
M. J. C. van den Homberg (B)
Cordaid and TNO, The Hague, Netherlands
e-mail: mvandenhomberg@redcross.nl
R. Monné · M. R. Spruit
Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
e-mail: robert.monne@ortec.com
M. R. Spruit
e-mail: m.r.spruit@uu.nl
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Hostettler et al. (eds.), Technologies for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91068-0_18
213
Bridging the Information Gap: Mapping
Data Sets on Information Needs in the
Preparedness and Response Phase
Marc Jan Christiaan van den Homberg, Robert Monné
and Marco René Spruit
18.1 Introduction
The poor face different levels of impact when exposed to natural hazards than the
nonpoor (Hallegatte et al. 2016). In addition, data on the risks poor and vulnerable
face and the actual impact they experience is often lacking. The digital divide plays an
important role in this as developing countries and within these developing countries,
the poor and vulnerable have less access to digital technologies (Leidig and Teeuw
2015). Apart from technological reasons, there are also political and social reasons.
For example, the poor often get their income through the informal economy, and
their land and resource rights are usually not registered.
This lack of data affects the actions of different actors in the preparedness and
response phase. Three main actors can be distinguished in the response and preparedness phase (van den Homberg and Neef 2015). The affected community are the
people directly and indirectly adversely affected and in need of urgent (humanitarian) assistance. The responding community consists of local or outside community
members that support in relief or recovery but are not trained in crisis response.
The responding professionals are part of the professional community in the field of
disaster management, such as national and local governments, NGOs, and national
crisis coordination centers. All these three groups have to decide based on the data
and information available to them—in the period just before the disaster hits—which
M. J. C. van den Homberg (B)
Cordaid and TNO, The Hague, Netherlands
e-mail: mvandenhomberg@redcross.nl
R. Monné · M. R. Spruit
Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
e-mail: robert.monne@ortec.com
M. R. Spruit
e-mail: m.r.spruit@uu.nl
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Hostettler et al. (eds.), Technologies for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91068-0_18
213