An implementation of a near real time disaster management hub based on crowdsourced data

Currently, the use of social media has enabled its users with near real-time update of happenings around the globe.One of the benefits of a socially connected community is that pools of user generated information are abundant during an event of a natural disaster.Studies from recent disaster events such as the Queensland and Australian floods, the Christchurch earthquake and the Japan earthquake have shown that crowd source information could be used and can be treated as the first response point to gain important information of the disaster in terms of crowd, aid and recovery.In this study, we examined the requirement and limitation of implementing a localized crowd source information hub to manage flood disaster in Malaysia.The study considered the implementation based on two factors which are community preparedness and infrastructure readiness with regard on the use of the Ushahidi framework as the crowd source engine.Our implementation studies and testing identified a number of feasibility factors that must be considered to effectively manage disaster situation should the need arise.