Mapping the Rescue Equipment Mobilization Potential: Decision Support Tool for Emergency Management

From a managerial perspective, prediagnosis of emergency response potential and decision support during rescue operations are essential for improving emergency response capability. Toward this end, this paper introduces a novel index to measure equipment availability at a certain location and time: rescue equipment mobilization potential within standard emergency response time (REMPSERT), which was estimated and visualized in a map based on the geographic information system (GIS). It is shown that the accuracy of the proposed map was in a highly acceptable range (i.e., 92.4%) compared with a commercialized navigation system. Using the validated map, two case studies are presented: (1) the prediagnosis of response potential (case: Seoul), and (2) the decision support for optimal dispatching of rescue equipment (case: Mauna Ocean Resort collapse), through which the utility and efficacy of the proposed map in emergency management were verified. (C) 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.