Strategic framework of using drone in cities disaster response

Abstract

Drone technology has been around the world more than a decade and the application has becomes more vital, especially, during the disaster event such as COVID-19 pandemic. However, some of the countries were not ready in implementating the technology due to various reasons. Thus, this study intended to identify the technological and legislative aspects of drone application for disaster response in cities environment and to propose strategic framework on optimization of drone capabilities in cities disaster response. The literature search has been conducted in order to explore the applicability of drone technology in disaster management and disaster response. Later, further investigations were carried out using the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach. In the PAR method, the data were collected in two phases; 1) observation and discussions and 2) interview sessions. The observation and discussions were conducted to obtain the implementation process of using the drone during the disaster event by the rescue team via recorded video. To triangulate the information gathered from the discussion, a series of interview had been made. Where, six selected stakeholders from end-user, regulatory agency and supplier were interviewed. It is found that the implementation of drone technology framework in disaster consists of six perspectives, namely; actions, internal organization, external environment, needs specification and feasibility analysis. To make the framework works, stakeholders are required to function in a cohesive and collaborative manner as illustrated in the Harmonization Triangle. The strength of cohesion and collaboration has also opened up future study for a full scope disaster management cycle phases, known as response, recovery, mitigation and preparedness.