Technology Innovations for Disaster Management in Developing Countries—Case Study for the Indian Ocean Tsunami at Banda Aceh, Indonesia and Recent Developments

Incidence of disasters and their impact will continue to increase through the coming decades, in part due to climate change, population growth, and other factors. In this chapter, we discuss the role of technology innovations for disaster management in developing countries in general, and with a case study illustration for the Indian Ocean tsunami at Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The use of technology has the potential to transform disaster management at all their stages. This may include better preparedness to disasters, such as increasing community capacity through educational technologies, better immediate response, such as using aerial drones to survey disaster areas and deliver much needed supplies, as well as better recovery and risk reduction. In the case of Aceh, we illustrate how there was initially low preparedness for the Indian Ocean Tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The major disaster has triggered a cycle of disaster management actions utilizing various technologies that will help increase preparedness in the case of such disasters coming again.