Disaster Response and Humanitarian Assistance for the 21st Century

“Without a doubt, Microsoft’s support of NetHope has made an impact on the way the

humanitarian sector uses information and communication technologies when there are

emergencies around the world.”

William Brindley, CEO

NetHope

Executive Summary

Microsoft Corp. — in collaboration with its many partners in the public, private and

nongovernmental sectors — is improving public safety and disaster management

worldwide by providing technology solutions and expertise to help communities with

disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Disaster management is core to

Microsoft’s commitment to develop the technology, tools and practices that can reduce

the consequences of disaster-related tragedies and help communities become more

resilient.

Natural disasters have increased in frequency and severity over the last several years,

increasing the need for more effective disaster management. Through partnerships with

leading organizations, Microsoft is finding new ways to use its global reach and familiar

technology to develop joint solutions that reduce the impact of disasters and to help

communities worldwide. Microsoft also invests in creating innovative new technologies

that can be incorporated into its products and used by other companies to develop their

own disaster management solutions.

Microsoft and its global network of technology partners also work proactively with many

disaster-response, humanitarian-assistance and first-responder organizations before

disasters strike, using technology and business expertise to help such organizations

operate more efficiently and improve their response capabilities.

Looking ahead, Microsoft is working to identify some of the most critical disaster

management problems that still need to be solved and to develop the technology solutions

and best practices that can help address them.

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Contents

Managing Natural Disasters: A Global Priority ............................................................ 3

Disaster Management at Microsoft ................................................................................. 3

Microsoft’s Multilayered Disaster Management Program ......................................... 4

Preparedness: Building Increased Capability ................................................................ 5

Working With Nongovernmental Organizations ........................................................ 6

Working With the Public Sector ................................................................................. 7

Response and Recovery: Increasing Capacity and Fostering Innovation ................... 8

Disaster Response ....................................................................................................... 9

Disaster Recovery ..................................................................................................... 10

Microsoft Disaster Response and Recovery in Action ................................................. 11

The Role of Public Policy in Disaster Management ..................................................... 13

Technology Infrastructure and the Microsoft Platform ............................................. 13

Global Technology Partnerships ................................................................................... 14

Leading-Edge Technology .............................................................................................. 15

Looking Ahead ................................................................................................................ 15

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 16

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Managing Natural Disasters: A Global Priority

On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis swept across southern Myanmar, claiming more than

100,000 lives, wrecking vital infrastructure, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes,

and leaving 2.4 million people in urgent need of food, shelter, clean water and protection

against disease. Ten days later, a major earthquake shook Sichuan province in China,

killing more than 69,000 people, injuring nearly 375,000, and leaving as many as 11

million homeless.

Due to climate change, population growth, shifting habitation patterns and other forces,

natural disasters are becoming more frequent, growing more severe and affecting more

people than ever before. According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of

Disasters (CRED)1, the average number of natural disasters reported each year increased

more than 60 percent from 2003 to 2005, compared with 1996 to 1998. More recently,

the Worldwatch Institute reported that in 2007 alone there were 874 weather-related

disasters worldwide, a 13 percent increase over 2006 and the highest number since

systematic recordkeeping began in 1974.

As natural disasters continue to grow in force and frequency, they are also touching more

lives and causing more damage. In the decade from 1984 to 1993, 1.6 billion people were

affected by natural disasters, compared with 2.6 billion in the next 10 years (1994 to

2003), according to a report2 released in August 2008 by CARE International, the United

Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Maplecroft, a firm that

advises large international companies on risk management and corporate responsibility.

Meanwhile, the financial impact of natural disasters has increased exponentially. In

constant dollars (at 1998 values), the costs associated with natural disasters between 1990

and 1999 were more than 15 times higher than they were between 1950 and 1959 —

$652 billion (U.S.) compared with $38 billion (U.S.).

As a result of these changes, developing the tools, processes and best practices to manage

natural disasters more effectively is becoming an increasingly urgent global priority.

Microsoft is playing a vital role in making communities more resilient, and in enabling

response organizations and relief agencies to achieve their disaster management goals.

Disaster Management at Microsoft

As a corporate citizen and a responsible leader in the information and communication

technology (ICT) industry, Microsoft strives to serve the public good through innovative

technologies and partnerships that contribute to economic growth and social opportunity

as we conduct our business.

We consider disaster response and humanitarian assistance an integral part of global

corporate citizenship, and an important expression of our corporate mission of using ICT

to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. At

Microsoft, we are committed to improving disaster management and increasing public

safety worldwide by addressing the growing need for more effective technology solutions

to support disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

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In collaboration with our worldwide network of nearly 750,000 technology partners, we

have developed products, technology solutions, and a series of proven digital skills

training programs that can be used or adapted by government agencies,

intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

that are involved in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. Microsoft also

offers a number of grant programs that help support disaster response organizations and

local community-development initiatives.

What distinguishes Microsoft’s approach to disaster management is our use of our core

competency — developing and using technology to solve complex, real-world problems

— to address some of the most critical challenges faced by disaster management

professionals and communities hit hard by natural disasters. Microsoft operates in more

than 100 countries, and our customers include governments, organizations and businesses

of every size. We work with our customers every day to understand the challenges they

face, and we are committed to helping them build their ICT capabilities to drive

resiliency and effectiveness in managing and recovering from disasters.

Over the years, Microsoft has responded to many natural disasters around the world.

Through those experiences, we have developed a multilayered approach to disaster

management that is increasingly comprehensive and effective in assisting communities

worldwide with disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

Microsoft’s Multilayered Disaster Management Program

Today, with the help of Microsoft and other leading technology companies, a growing

number of governments and organizations around the world are using ICT to predict and

prepare for natural disasters in an effort to prevent them from becoming large-scale

human tragedies. For example, disaster management officials are improving their

situational awareness by using geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial

imaging technology to track hurricanes, analyze data, and create models that enable them

to predict the storm’s destructive force and to test different response scenarios. They can

then use communications and collaboration technology to coordinate massive

evacuations and other strategies, and to move people out of harm’s way before the

hurricane hits.

Microsoft and its global network of technology partners work proactively with a wide

range of public-sector, humanitarian-assistance and first-responder organizations before

disasters occur, helping them to increase their response capacity by improving their

logistics, communications and collaboration capabilities. As a result, many organizations

are able to streamline their operations, make more efficient use of their resources and

respond more quickly to natural disasters.

When disaster does strike, ICT solutions can help first responders stay connected around

the clock and get the information they need to collaborate and respond more effectively.

By providing first responders with the tools for effective communication and

collaboration to overcome challenges posed by distance, diverse languages, cultural

differences, geographic barriers, international borders and damaged infrastructure, ICT

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can help reduce the loss of life and property, reunite families, and alleviate human

suffering.

By enabling situational awareness and knowledge sharing, ICT can help governments and

humanitarian-assistance organizations facilitate their relief services; speed the donation

and distribution of food, medical supplies and other vital resources; and provide access to

more complete and accurate information as communities and families work to recover

and rebuild in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

In most countries, many of the people and organizations that work in disaster

management also have responsibilities related to national security. Many of the processes

and technology solutions that Microsoft develops to help improve the capacity of public-

sector organizations and NGOs to respond to disasters can also be applied to critical

infrastructure protection, just as many of the strategies developed to help protect critical

infrastructure can be adapted for disaster management.

Preparedness: Building Increased Capability

Microsoft works in partnership with government agencies, IGOs and NGOs before

disasters occur to help them become better prepared to respond to natural disasters.

Experience has shown that technology, when strategically applied, can improve the

effectiveness and efficiency of disaster response and humanitarian assistance. At

Microsoft, we use our technology and business expertise to help organizations engaged in

disaster management increase their response capacity by improving their communication

and collaboration capabilities ahead of a crisis occurring.

Technology and processes are most effective when they are part of or similar to one’s

day-to-day operational experience. This is not to say that unique solutions won’t be used

to manage specific issues, but the goal is for organizations to be familiar with tools and

solutions related to disaster management before disasters occur. By extending the same

information and communications tools that people use every day, Microsoft can help

them be prepared to respond more effectively during times of crisis. Microsoft’s disaster

management solutions are familiar and easy to use, which helps reduce training time

when preparing for and responding to disasters.

The private sector, the public sector and the NGO community must work together to

deploy technology solutions in the most effective manner, and to ensure that solutions are

appropriate, sustainable and designed to achieve the best possible results.

Before organizations can improve their disaster response capabilities with new

technology and training, however, they must have a clear idea of the problems they are

trying to solve and have processes and practices in place to support those goals. Ongoing

challenges in disaster management — such as cross-border issues when disasters affect

more than one country, or the need to normalize data so that critical information can be

quickly communicated, understood and acted upon — reinforce the need for such clarity

and structure. When appropriate, Microsoft also works with government agencies, IGOs

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and NGOs to help them make those assessments and determine how to create a

framework that will enable them to take full advantage of technology solutions.

Another challenge to the effectiveness of disaster response and recovery is sharing

information across organizations hampered by a lack of interoperability. Information and

knowledge are widely distributed and owned by different organizations, critical data is

maintained in disparate systems that often don’t interoperate well, and there are no

common standards to enable organizations to efficiently organize and share their

resources during response operations. True interoperability is about connecting people,

data and diverse processes and organizations, which requires not only flexible technology

and accepted standards, but also the fewest possible bureaucratic and regulatory barriers.

Microsoft ICT solutions are interoperable by design to optimize collaboration and

information flow among organizations. Microsoft strives to improve communication and

collaboration by providing technologies that help other companies develop more

interoperable products, participating in leading standards organizations, and assisting

governments in creating public policies that reduce barriers and increase interoperability.

Working With Nongovernmental Organizations

In 2005, Microsoft donated $41 million (U.S.) in software and cash to NetHope LLC and

the Inter-Agency Working Group on Emergency Capacity Building (ECB). The purpose

of the grants was to enable efficient and rapid communication among the field and

support offices of NGOs, as well as more effective communications with donors, better

program management, and streamlined fundraising and marketing activities.

Through its grants to ECB, Microsoft supports seven of the world’s largest humanitarian

agencies in improving their use of information and communication technology for

emergency response. NetHope, which includes 25 of the world’s leading NGOs that serve

tens of millions of people in more than 180 countries, is focused on advancing the

strategic use of technology in the operations of its member organizations worldwide.

NetHope brings its members together to solve common problems and use technology to

achieve higher levels of program efficiency, quality and influence in order to better serve

communities in need.

The Microsoft grants enabled NetHope, ECB and their member organizations to make a

major upgrade of technology and to improve the efficiency of their operations at every

level, especially during times of crisis, when speed, communication and efficiency can

make an essential difference in people’s lives.

“ICT is the electricity that lets humanitarian staff conduct assessments, communicate

requirements and speed relief in the form of shelter, healthcare and food to those affected

by natural disasters,” says William Brindley, CEO of NetHope. “We could not do what

we do without Microsoft.”

Following its initial large grant in 2005, Microsoft has continued to provide NetHope, the

ECB and their member organizations with ongoing support. Examples include the

following:

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In 2007 (FY08), Microsoft committed an additional $500,000 to NetHope, to be

given over three years and used for additional capacity-building efforts across the

organization.

In October 2008, Microsoft created a Microsoft Select License pilot program for

charities, which was made available to NetHope members. The pilot allows

qualified NGOs to purchase software licenses through the Microsoft Select

License program in the United States. This provides NGOs with additional

purchasing options that will make Microsoft software licenses available to them

in the most cost-effective ways.

In November 2008, Microsoft extended welcome grants to several new NetHope

members, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Societies, WaterAid, Family Health International and VSO, all of which joined

NetHope since Microsoft’s initial software grant in 2005. PATH and Ashoka, two

other new NetHope members, received separate large Microsoft software grants

in 2007 and 2008.

Microsoft’s work with and support for NetHope and the ECB is not only in the form of

grants. In October 2006, for example, Microsoft Learning worked with NetHope and the

ECB to initiate an ICT Skills Building Program in Kenya, which ran from June 2007 to

December 2007. After identifying key needs in the area, a set of core classes and

curriculum was made available to IT professionals and program workers at NetHope and

ECB organizations in Africa. The courses focused on strengthening communications and

team management skills, productive software, and training in networking, technical

support, telecommunications and satellite technology, IT project management, and

business skills.

Working With the Public Sector

Public and private sectors face challenges to expand technology-based solutions that

increase personnel efficiency, effectiveness, knowledge and flexibility when responding

to disasters and crisis situations. In areas prone to natural disasters, such as the Asia

Pacific region, interest is growing in the potential for employing commercial, off-the-

shelf software-based simulations for enhanced learning using virtual environments. The

result: building capacity in regional government authorities and intergovernmental

organizations while linking training with contingency and preparedness planning.

Starting in 2007, Microsoft entered into a partnership with the U.N. World Food

Programme (WFP) to enable more effective uses of technology. Microsoft and the U.N.

WFP are working in a public-private partnership to explore the integration of software-

based disaster simulations for training and planning, to enhance the coherence of disaster

response by exercising country-level emergency management using actual contingency

plans.

Microsoft has provided the software platform and funded a technology partner, Acron

Capability Engineering, to manage the requirements definition, guide learning objectives

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and build a proof-of-concept simulation management application. Acron, a Microsoft

Gold Certified Partner, is widely recognized for its specialized capabilities and expertise

in the areas of distributed simulation environments, distributed mission operations, and

simulator integration.

As part of enabling more effective emergency preparedness and response in Asia, a

proof-of-concept virtual simulation capability has been developed to put real people

through exercises using simulated equipment. In this simulated environment, participants

plan for and respond to reality-based disaster scenarios across a variety of geographic

regions and weather conditions. The simulation attaches to existing and new data sources;

includes multiple agency and stakeholder participation; captures results and outcomes;

and retains analysis, feedback and data for future use. When applied to social endeavors

such as education, a proof-of-concept virtual simulation capability can be used to create a

holistic view of the dynamic environment in which the majority of learning activities are

conducted.

Another example of Microsoft’s public-sector preparedness work is a project the

company did with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

that had immediate application in a real disaster situation.

U.N. OCHA uses a concept called Humanitarian Information Centres (HIC), which

enables various organizations and agencies that respond to a disaster and assist with post-

disaster recovery to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate activities more effectively.

The HIC serves as a central resource where the organizations can access and share

information and tools to help improve the planning and delivery of humanitarian

assistance.

Early in 2008, the Microsoft team worked with U.N. OCHA officials to identify the

requirements for a standard HIC with maximum utility, and drew up a document that

could serve as a blueprint. When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in May 2008, Microsoft

already was working in partnership with U.N. OCHA and 19 Microsoft solution partners

to build and host an improved and reusable construct of the HIC. Moving rapidly, the

teams were able to create the Myanmar HIC portal used to coordinate international relief

activity for the devastated area.

Microsoft and its solution partners’ effort with U.N. OCHA on the HIC project serves as

a good example of how preparedness enables response and recovery.

Response and Recovery: Increasing Capacity and Fostering Innovation

Microsoft’s philosophy of effectively assisting with worldwide disaster response and

recovery efforts operates on two principles: 1) to engage proactively through

preestablished public-private partnerships, and 2) to apply our resources and core

competencies — which include subject-matter expertise, a global network of partners,

and robust tools built with information and communication technology — to the

problems of disaster response and recovery.

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Disaster Response

In supporting disaster response efforts, Microsoft has the goal of helping to build lead

responders’ capacity to solve problems. To do this most effectively, the majority of the

work is done before disasters occur and before the start of actual response efforts, by

establishing key partnerships with lead response organizations and identifying in advance

how Microsoft’s ICT expertise can support and enhance their efforts.

To lead and facilitate our disaster response work, we have formed a disaster response

program, unifying corporate, partner and local field resources to work proactively to

increase the organizational and technological capabilities of governments, IGOs and

NGOs engaged in disaster response, and to provide aid and support during actual

response efforts. When disasters occur, Microsoft works with governments, agencies and

lead response organizations to supply ICT resources, ranging from on-the ground subject-

matter expertise to deploying and/or hosting relevant disaster management solutions

designed to the needs of those organizations.

After Hurricane Ike swamped the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast area in Texas, for example,

Microsoft provided the city of Galveston and the Houston Emergency Operations Center

with hosted online services, Virtual Earth images of the affected areas, and on-the-ground

IT support and connectivity.

During the Sichuan, China, earthquake, the Microsoft China subsidiary disaster response

team worked tirelessly to engage with government agencies and local NGOs to identify

opportunities where our technology, know-how or partners could assist. Responding to an

emergency request for assistance from the Red Cross Society of China, engineers from

the Microsoft China Technology Center worked to upgrade and migrate the Red Cross

donation Web site to Windows and Microsoft SQL Server, restoring its service and

improving response time dramatically.

Microsoft’s Mexico disaster response team provided valuable assistance during the

torrential flooding in Tabasco, Mexico. The company and its employees provided ICT

resources to the state government to support the various censuses being taken to help

define and control reconstruction requirements, and efforts to repair or rebuild damaged

homes, small businesses and other community assets.

Like many other corporations and communities around the world, Microsoft and its

employees are generous with cash donations when disaster strikes. In addition, our

employees often serve as volunteers on the front lines — from packing and shipping

truckloads of emergency supplies to getting trained to work in the field with survivors

and relief agencies. Our voluntary technical disaster response teams also work directly

with local communities in disaster areas, helping to apply and modify technology

solutions to address the unique challenges relief workers face every day.

Microsoft’s employee giving and volunteer programs encourage and empower our

employees to get involved in the causes they are passionate about. In the United States,

Microsoft matches its employees’ cash donations up to $12,000 annually; matching

programs are also available to a limited degree in some other countries. In countries

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outside the United States, Microsoft enables employees to volunteer up to three days of

their time and talent annually with qualified NGOs. In the United States, Microsoft offers

eligible NGOs a $17-per-hour cash match for time volunteered by employees.

In addition to making corporate donations and matching many employee donations,

Microsoft also uses its social media such as MSN, Live.com and Microsoft.com to raise

public awareness of specific disasters, and to encourage donations that will aid disaster

victims and help support the NGOs and government agencies that are leading the

response efforts.

Microsoft has a standard portfolio of offerings that can be used to aid disaster response

and recovery efforts worldwide, supporting both the public and private sectors. It

includes providing information and communication technology and expertise to lead

response organizations; training volunteers on the ground; driving global donations and

awareness through social media; and coordinating the company’s response with

Microsoft partners by way of hardware solutions or subject-matter expertise that could be

helpful.

At Microsoft, we believe that communication and information management plays a

critical role in rapid and effective disaster management. Our goal is to extend Microsoft’s

core competencies, as well as our global resources and partner relationships, to increase

responder and citizen capability for disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and

recovery and, ultimately, to help save lives.

Disaster Recovery

As communities and economies move from responding to a natural disaster to following

the longer road of recovery, those involved have an opportunity to ensure that

investments are designed for long-term sustainability and innovation. This requires a

degree of planning and reconstruction that is designed not only to rebuild a community to

what it was before, by revitalizing the culture and core of what enabled it to thrive in the

past, but also to infuse new concepts of innovation and resiliency that will increase

economic vitality.

Microsoft’s efforts in long-term disaster recovery have been focused on driving

innovation and resiliency through new and creative uses of ICT. Recovery of the business

community after a natural disaster is a high priority for Microsoft. Our goal is to assist

our customers and partners with business continuity efforts and ensure that they recover

their IT system capabilities rapidly.

The vitality of the business community is a critical dependency for successful economic

and social recovery from a disaster. One of the reasons for the slow recovery in New

Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was the struggle to revitalize the small-business

community. Small and medium-sized businesses are essential for sustaining a returning

population in an area hit hard by a disaster. In New Orleans, Microsoft provided licensing

relief to new small and medium-sized businesses in the affected area, offering the first

year of a standard licensing agreement free of charge. Our goal was to attract new

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businesses to the area and to reduce their IT costs during the first, and often most

challenging, year of a startup.

As part of its disaster recovery efforts, Microsoft continually invests in educational

institutions as communities are rebuilding. We sponsor new school construction and

donate software to raise the IT capabilities of schools, to help teachers use technology

more effectively in the classroom, and to make technology an integral part of every

student’s education.

After the 2008 earthquake in China destroyed some 175 schools in Sichuan and Gansu

provinces, Microsoft pledged $1.4 million (U.S.) over two years to help restore education

in the area. Some of the money was donated to the China Youth Development

Foundation, an NGO based in Beijing, to set up temporary classrooms while the rest was

earmarked for the construction of new schools and other education programs.

Microsoft continually partners with governments, IGOs, NGOs and other private-sector

companies to look at ways of driving sustainability, innovation and resiliency in

communities around the world, to ensure a more robust recovery while preparing

communities to mitigate and manage future disasters more effectively.

Microsoft Disaster Response and Recovery in Action

On Dec. 26, 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami killed more than a quarter of

a million people, left more than 1 million people homeless, destroyed vital infrastructure,

and destabilized national and local economies in many South Asian countries — making

it one of the worst natural disasters in recent history.

Microsoft’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami provides an example of the value and

potential of our multilayered approach to disaster response and recovery. Besides giving

$7.6 million in corporate and employee cash donations to tsunami relief efforts, the

company also helped millions of people worldwide contribute by providing information

and links to more than 55 local and international relief agencies on Microsoft.com, MSN

and MSNBC.com.

But money for immediate needs is only a small part of what is needed following a

disaster. Using technology and organizational skills, Microsoft helped develop a tsunami

early-warning system, providing software to map the ocean floor and working with local

partners to create a community-based disaster preparedness and response system.

Microsoft also supported NetHope in developing a collaborative effort with seven

humanitarian organizations to set up satellite communications infrastructure in Indonesia,

and the Microsoft MapPoint team worked with regional authorities to create new maps of

the affected areas to facilitate and improve logistics and transportation. Microsoft also set

up round-the-clock technical support for relief organizations, to make sure their

operations were uninterrupted.

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In Sri Lanka, Microsoft supported a local effort to create a Web site that registered

volunteers willing to work with NGOs, a project that received backing from the United

Nations Development Programme and was staffed by volunteers from the student

organization AIESEC. Microsoft also created a Sinhalese local language pack so that

people in Sri Lanka could work in their native language when using technology set up to

help with the relief effort. In Thailand, along with Acer Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and

Thaicom Plc, Microsoft worked with the official Thai Tsunami Information Center to

help identify disaster victims and find missing persons.

In addition, Microsoft worked with local governments and NGOs in India, Sri Lanka and

Thailand — such as the Women’s Development Fund — to develop micro-finance loan

programs that continue to help small businesses and households rebuild their livelihoods.

As an example, the market stall where Anurashantha worked with his wife, Indrakumari,

was washed away by the tsunami. The couple escaped with their lives, but their business

was lost. Anurashantha and Indrakumari needed only $200 to rebuild their business and

restore their means of earning a living, in part to pay for a bicycle so they could transport

their goods to the market. With no collateral for a normal bank loan, they were able to

apply for a micro-loan from the Women’s Development Fund, an NGO run by women

and one of just a few in Sri Lanka that provides micro-financing.

Micro-financing is becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world as an

effective tool for economic development. Microsoft was among only a handful of

corporations that partnered with NGOs to provide funding of micro-loans to tsunami

victims.

To further rebuild local economies and restore family livelihoods, Microsoft established a

network of Rural Knowledge Centers, which continue to provide connectivity,

technology skills training, and access to information that can help with the rehabilitation

of farming, fishing and other local economic activities in villages and towns devastated

by the tsunami.

In addition to helping extend local IT connectivity, Microsoft looks for opportunities to

invest in innovative solutions focused on sustainability, such as local efforts to create bio-

shields and a series of bio-villages along the Sri Lankan coast. For the bio-shields,

mangrove, bamboo and other salt-tolerant plant species were planted in coastal areas. If

another tsunami should hit the coast, the bio-shields will help dissipate its energy before

it can do serious harm to local communities. The bio-villages were designed to develop

both sea- and land-based businesses to help revive the local economy.

Working alongside communities, relief agencies and governments to build or rebuild a

foundation that empowers individuals and local economies to reach their full potential

requires a comprehensive approach in partnerships at the tactical level, as well as in the

strategic and policy-oriented arena.

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The Role of Public Policy in Disaster Management

Public policy is an important component of disaster management. Although governments

cannot legislate good disaster management, they can lay the groundwork through

strategic disaster planning and by adopting policies that clear the way for effective

communication and collaboration during a disaster.

Microsoft, along with many IGO and NGO partners, takes a proactive role in helping

governments worldwide develop policies that will help ensure the full and effective use

of ICT in critical situations, and reduce bureaucratic and regulatory barriers that might

hamper communication and collaboration during disaster response and recovery.

Microsoft participates in the development of frameworks for incident management and

response that allow diverse organizations to respond to “all threats/all hazards” incidents

at a national, state or local level. Our company works directly with many governments on

critical infrastructure protection issues and the role of infrastructures in responding to

disasters.

Another goal of our public policy work with governments is to encourage public-private

partnerships that enhance disaster response capabilities through the adoption and use of

ICT solutions before disasters occur.

Technology Infrastructure and the Microsoft Platform

Organizations that are engaged in disaster management want technology solutions that

will enable them to provide lifesaving response and recovery assistance to the people

who need their help when disasters strike.

Increasingly, disaster management organizations look for applications that are industry-

proven, robust, cost-effective, interoperable and, in some cases, able to operate with

limited or intermittent connectivity and various levels of network capacity. The disaster

management solutions created by Microsoft and its many industry partners offer a wide

selection of capabilities and benefits that help enable effective disaster response and

recovery. Those include the following:

Optimized situational awareness. Real-time data management and transmission,

and communication deliver a full picture of the situation.

Interoperable, collaborative environment. Responders save lives by improving

information flow across all types of boundaries.

Support for mobile, Web-based access across a range of devices. All

components and people are connected in fixed and field locations.

System security and reliability. Microsoft products combine to provide powerful

security and performance.

Comprehensive system manageability. All facets of the solution are designed to

work together.

Change occurs rapidly in disaster management. Mandatory policies and procedures

frequently require the modification of existing systems. The Microsoft .NET Framework

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provides software that is intentionally designed to facilitate and accommodate new

demands and changing conditions. The ability to rapidly adapt applications to keep pace

with evolving situations benefits response organizations, and the people who depend on

them, while preserving their IT investments.

Global Technology Partnerships

When disasters occur anywhere in the world, the safety of people in the affected areas

depends on first responders being prepared, and then staying connected and in close

collaboration 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the crisis is resolved.

The increasing impact of natural disasters and other crisis management situations is

prompting the creation of a new generation of ICT solutions that can enhance disaster

preparedness, response and recovery. Governments and response organizations are

looking beyond traditional telecommunications means to explore the robust and

incredibly diverse offerings that the ICT sector can bring to a crisis-response situation.

Microsoft works with a global network of technology partners that use the Microsoft

platform to build innovative solutions designed specifically for crisis and disaster

management, and we will continue to look for opportunities to improve the responders’

situational awareness, tools, and capabilities through new and innovative ICT solutions.

Infusion Development, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, developed Joint Emergency

Planning and Response System (JEPRS), an easy-to-use crisis management solution that

provides real-time communication and collaboration on GIS data, mapping, incident

reporting, and other critical information for enhanced situational awareness and disaster

response. JEPRS integrates easily with existing systems and can operate even in areas

with unreliable Internet connectivity. Built with Microsoft .NET and database

technology, and incorporating Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Virtual Earth

software, JEPRS helps disaster managers and first responders plan and implement crisis

management programs.

The Fujian Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, which controls water

volumes throughout the Fujian province in China, wanted a system to help it manage

floods, mitigate droughts, make accurate weather forecasts, and improve the efficiency of

its staff and decision-making processes. With the help of IT developer Fuzhou Strongsoft

Development Co., the agency implemented a PDA-integrated application system for

flood control to improve its command-and-control function. The new system uses

smartphones running on Windows Mobile and linked to a Microsoft database and

operating system, which provides features such as query, analysis, pre-warning,

communications and more. The agency estimates that the new solution will reduce

disaster loss by an average of $52 million per year (U.S.).

Automating manual records is another fundamental challenge for disaster response and

humanitarian assistance organizations, which is just as important as, if somewhat less

glamorous than, other critical issues affecting their readiness.

15

Christian Aid, the U.K.’s fourth-largest development aid agency, was facing a serious

challenge in managing disaster response in a timely way. By 2004, the charity had more

than 1 million documents on its network, including many duplicate documents and

redundant files. Charity workers based in the field had no access to the agency’s wide

area network and had to rely entirely on e-mail and their own computer hard drives for

information. Christian Aid needed new technology to ensure it could begin work on an

emergency, using accurate information, well within 24 hours of the event. Previously,

decisions were often delayed by the need to gather 30 or more people together before the

emergency task force could make decisions.

Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Silversands worked with Christian Aid to develop a

solution using Microsoft communication and collaboration technology and had it in place

just in time for the agency to respond to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. In fact, when the

tsunami struck, the U.S. Pacific Command turned to Microsoft collaboration technology

targeted at teams with members who are usually offline or who do not share the same

network security clearance. The Microsoft technology helped the commanders coordinate

response and rescue efforts by linking together nongovernmental organizations,

emergency responders from many countries, and several military units.

Leading-Edge Technology

Microsoft and its worldwide network of partners are always at work developing

innovative technology solutions that can be applied to disaster management. As part of

that effort, Microsoft invests billions of dollars annually in research and development,

creating breakthrough technology that we implement in our own products and also

license to other companies around the world — both partners and competitors — to

enable them to develop their own solutions.

Microsoft also has teamed with leading relief agencies to develop innovative technology

solutions to problems they were facing, and to field-test technology solutions to help

NGOs improve their responsiveness and operate more effectively.

The Microsoft Humanitarian Empowerment and Response through Technology

(HEART) program worked with Mercy Corps in 2001 to develop and test the Food and

Commodity Tracking System (FACTS), a mobile solution that helps monitor the

inventory and transport of donated goods so that they quickly reach the people who need

them. With Save the Children, Microsoft developed the Pocket Survey project, which

enabled the agency to use handheld technology to gather data on remote, rural

communities in several countries, and then quickly upload, share and analyze that

information to facilitate relief activities.

Looking Ahead

Despite recent advances in using ICT for disaster response and humanitarian assistance,

many desirable solutions do not yet exist. One of Microsoft’s continuing roles will be to

bring partners together to identify and develop many of those solutions.

16

During the next one to three years, geospatial and mapping technologies such as Virtual

Earth will become increasingly important, as they enable first responders to increase

situational awareness and provide new ways to display and analyze information. Many

Microsoft partners are already building these technologies into their solutions.

Developers will also find new ways to use mobile technology and Web portals to create

innovative disaster management solutions that streamline operations and increase the

efficiency of response organizations.

More solutions will be developed to help organizations create and manage response

resources and infrastructure between disasters, while others will focus on helping

organizations learn from their experiences and capture knowledge that can be used for

learning and better planning, and built into training models.

Some of these solutions are already in development. Microsoft ESP, for example, is a

virtual reality simulator that incorporates high-quality mapping data and the ability to

integrate user-generated 3-D models and information. By using Microsoft ESP to

simulate disasters before they happen, response organizations could provide detailed

training for a variety of potential scenarios. First responders could use Microsoft ESP to

plan their operations or to explore an area in full 3-D before going in and putting workers

at risk.

Another new technology, Microsoft Research SenseCam, is a wearable camera that takes

photographs in response to stimuli such as changes in heat, light and movement. People

involved in disasters or other crisis situations often remember events differently.

Microsoft Research SenseCam provides an objective record of an event, furnishing a

clear picture of how it evolved and played out — information that could be vital in

training and future planning.

Conclusion

Global disaster management and humanitarian assistance requires a multifaceted

approach that leverages the skills, resources and commitments of corporations,

government agencies, IGOs and NGOs, and individuals. At Microsoft, we actively

participate in disaster management efforts to help save lives and to prepare and rebuild

communities threatened by natural disasters.

During the prevention and preparedness phase, we work proactively and apply our

technology expertise to help governments, IGOs and NGOs improve their logistics,

communications and collaboration. We also assist governments as they seek to establish

public policies that will help facilitate effective disaster management and the full use of

ICT to help prevent the loss of life and property by reducing bureaucratic and regulatory

barriers.

When disasters strike, Microsoft provides first responders with technology support, and

helps to create or deploy on-the-spot solutions that improve response coordination,

reunite families, and drive donations and public awareness. In addition, Microsoft and its

employees donate generously to humanitarian relief organizations responding to natural

17

disasters, and Microsoft employees often serve as trained volunteers. The company

supports its employees’ compassionate response to natural disasters around the world

through a variety of programs that vary from country to country, such as granting

employees time off to volunteer or matching their donations or volunteer hours with an

equivalent cash contribution to the appropriate charity.

During recovery, Microsoft continues to work with governments and leading IGOs and

NGOs to help rebuild and revitalize local communities and their economies, focusing

particularly on helping with the rapid recovery and business continuity for local

customers and partners.

Microsoft is passionate in its belief that information and communication technology can

make a significant difference in reducing the impact of natural disasters, and we are

firmly committed to continuing our investment of resources and expertise in efforts to

make communities more resilient and to strengthen disaster management capabilities

worldwide.

1 “CRED Disaster Figures: Deaths and economic losses jump in 2008,” United Nations International

Strategy for Disaster Reduction press release, January 22, 2009. http://www.unisdr.org/eng/media-

room/press-release/2009/pr-2009-01-disaster-figures-2008.pdf 2 “Humanitarian Implications of Climate Change: Mapping emerging trends and risk hotspots,” jointly

produced by CARE International, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and

Maplecroft, August 2008.

Additional Information

For more information about Microsoft Disaster Management efforts please visit:

www.microsoft.com/humanitarianrelief

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