Development of an incident-responsive spatial decision support system for the Hajj.

Abstract

This study provides a framework and general guidelines for the development of an Incident Responsive Spatial Decision Support System (IRSDSS) using a geographic information system approval. The system designed is for disaster response operations of the Saudi Red Crescent Society during the Hajj season. In recent years, a number of serious disasters have occurred during the Hajj and the need for a superior response system to deal with such events and minimize their consequences is evident. Such a response system will rely on increased use of automation in the communications and in some way to include geography. The Hajj is a special religious gathering that takes place at the last month of the lunar calendar every year. The Hajj has particular settings and characteristics not the least of which is its magnitude in terms of number of pilgrims, physical settings, and length of time. During this period the Saudi Red Crescent Society has specific needs and requirements to manage emergency situations and incidents. The settings and needs of disasters are evaluated and analyzed when developing IRSDSS system and data models presented in this study. Structured analysis methodology is applied, and various modeling tools are used to satisfy the objectives of this research. The primary objective of this study is to examine the applicability of geographic information systems for dispatching resources in response to disasters. Two scenarios are developed to test who should respond first to an incident and what resources should be deployed to that incident. The system is tested under various incident magnitudes, using the Arafat Holy Site as a pilot area. The determinant factors used to answer the question posed by the scenarios are: the optimal path to the incident location, capacity of the Saudi Red Crescent Society stations, and the magnitude of the incident. The findings of this research indicate that the geographic information system technology, in its current state of vendor practices, does not provide complete facilities to support the objectives of the scenarios developed in this study. To demonstrate acceptable solutions to these issues, further data manipulation and analysis are undertaken and special additional C code programs are written for this purpose. When these programs are integrated with geographic information systems technology, they yield an effective spatial reference system that could be used by the Saudi Red Crescent Society for disaster response during the Hajj season.