A distributed multi-agent simulation system for the assessment of disaster management systems

In order to design effective disaster emergency management systems, a number of factors, including not only accident/disaster phenomena but also human behaviours such as coordination and communication between different organisations, should be considered in an integrated and comprehensive manner. In this paper, we propose the basic design of MASTERD: a Multi-Agent Simulation sysTem of Emergency Response in Disasters. The chief characteristics of MASTERD are (1) its system extensibility, allowing for easy integration of various simulations, and (2) its behavioural simulation of many different individuals and organisations in emergency response. We present the development of a prototype of MASTERD for nuclear disasters and discuss possible applications of MASTERD for various social safety and security issues.