International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

Design of Disaster Crisis Center Function Based on

Crisis Management Concept
Aang Gunawan Sutyawan1, Albarda2
{[email protected] 1, [email protected]}

School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Faculty of electrical Engineering, Bandung Institute
of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia1,2
Technical Implementation Unit for Mine’s and Geological Hazard Mitigation, Indonesian
Institute of Sciences, Liwa, West Lampung, Lampung, Indonesia1

Abstract. Crises can be interpreted as a condition/situation that threatens and creates

risks so that immediate handling/action needs by means of an emergency to prevent it
from deteriorating. A situation can be a crisis in the event of a natural disaster that has
the risk of causing casualties and a broad impact on the community, afflicting
government business units, and very large financial losses. The way to deal with disasters
in the crisis phase is to create a Crisis Center which is the center of management in
managing information and coordinating disaster response centers. In a crisis situation,
gathering information, making decisions, and directing appropriate actions requires good
coordination. This research attempts to answer the problems by designing the functions
of a Crisis Center related to crisis situations to support emergency response action plans
based on the concept of crisis management so that decision-makers can determine the
most optimal steps.

Keywords: crisis center, crisis management, emergency, disaster.

1 Introduction

Referring to a study conducted by the National Disaster Management Authority

(NDMA), millions of Indonesians are in the threat of natural disasters. Based on the data, 86.2
million people were exposed to the risk of earthquake disasters, 3.7 million people were prone
to tsunamis, and millions of other disasters [1]. In the last decade, there have been seven
tsunami disasters in Indonesia. Mentawai (2010), Papua (2011), Aceh and West Sumatra
(2012), and Southeast Sulawesi, Banten and Lampung (2018) [2]. The impact of the tsunami
was very large and caused many casualties and damage. This data illustrates that a tsunami
disaster is one of the disasters that pose a serious threat to the risk of high casualties. The time
span between tsunami early warning and the arrival of a tsunami until the status of a tsunami
ends is a phase of crisis that must be managed optimally in an effort to deal with disaster
emergencies..
A crisis or emergency is a threatening condition that requires immediate action.
Effective emergency action can prevent events from getting worse [3][4][5]. So the crisis can
be interpreted as a condition/situation that threatens and raises risks so that it needs immediate
handling/action by means of an emergency so that it does not deteriorate. This phase begins
when a disaster occurs until the end of the crisis period and the start of the disaster recovery
phase [6]. This stage greatly determines the impact of a disaster. If the crisis phase can be

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

handled properly, it can minimize the loss of life and material losses due to the disaster.
Therefore requires management that can manage a crisis situation from occurring due to
natural disasters.
Crisis management means to deal with situations in which events that threaten the safety
and security of the public will occur, or to manage it after happened [7]. Crisis management is a
proactive process that involves handling crises and specific actions taken to solve problems
caused by crises [8][9]. So crisis management is a planned response to a crisis situation, which
must be carried out effectively and on time when the crisis occurs. Crisis management also
provides critical information needed for decision makers and plans that can be used to deal with
crisis situations.
A situation is interpreted as a crisis in the event of a natural disaster which has the risk of
causing casualties and widespread impact on the community, afflicting government business
units at once, and very large financial losses. In this condition, the highest level of management
in the area must lead the implementation directly. The highest management in question is the
district head of the affected area. After the district head receives news of a disaster emergency,
the next step is to do a brief analysis, whether the emergency situation has reached a crisis
situation. If it reaches a crisis situation, the district head must announce that the condition of the
area is in a crisis situation. One of the facilities needed in carrying out crisis management is the
Command Center (CC).
In general, CC can be interpreted as a location/place to provide orders, coordination, and
decision-making in supporting emergency responses. The aim of CC is to collect and process
the information needed to be able to manage various events and situational awareness quickly
and effectively. The command center function is to provide central control points for the
operations of the actors involved during the crisis so that they can give and obtain, every and
all, available information about the status of the crisis [10].
Indonesia, as one of the countries that helped ratify the Framework for Hyogo has also
implemented disaster risk reduction efforts. Thus many government departments rely on their
own special emergency response systems to conduct rescue operations, most contingency
plans are designed from the perspective of their own sector. It is not surprising that these
emergency plans usually have many disadvantages, such as inappropriate human resources
allocation, poor information communication with external entities, and a narrow range in
which resources are distributed. Once a large scale emergency occurs, such an emergency plan
type cannot provide an adequate response. The way to deal with disasters in the crisis phase is
to create a Crisis Center which is the center of management in managing information and
coordinating disaster response centers. This research attempts to answer the problems by
designing the functions of a Crisis Center related to crisis situations to support emergency
response action plans based on the concept of crisis management, so that decision-makers can
determine the most optimal steps. In a crisis situation, CC can turn into a crisis center. The
focus of this research is on tsunami natural disasters with adequate early warning assumptions.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Crisis Management

Bundy [11] identified two main perspectives that focused on various aspects of crisis and
crisis management.

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

1) Internal perspective, focusing on organizational dynamics in managing risk, complexity,

and technology. Crisis management involves the coordination of complex technical and
relational systems and the design of organizational structures to prevent the occurrence, reduce
impacts, and learn from crises.
2) External perspectives, focusing on the interaction of organizations and external
stakeholders, mostly come from the theory of social perception and impression management.
According to this perspective, crisis management involves the formation of perceptions and
coordination with stakeholders to prevent, resolve, and develop a crisis. From this literature
review, the internal perspective focuses on crisis leadership, while the external perspective
focuses on stakeholder perceptions.
M. Blyth [12] illustrate the focus areas involved in crisis events as follows: incident and
crisis management teams, crisis control centers, evacuation coordination centers, emergency
response teams, corporate front teams, incident management plans, and other crisis response
plans. During emergency response operations, information management becomes very
important. Emergency management stakeholders - as decision makers - require ongoing access
to a variety of distributed data sources to plan, make the right decisions, and allocate resources
for certain tasks.
2.2 Emergency Operation Center (EOC)

The Japanese government made its crisis management system model follow the Incident
Command System (ICS) in Europe and the US disaster crisis management, seen from
administrations that have important factors, namely: (1) organization, (2) information, (3)
evacuation, (4) coordination, (5) reduction of incidents, and (6) reconstruction. Especially about
disaster information includes what has happened and disaster management what must be done
to reduce damage [7].
Dave [13] put forward the definition of an emergency operations center is a physical facility
equipped with technical infrastructure where decision makers meet to coordinate disaster
emergency measures. Seven important functions (there may be more or less based on the
disaster management agenda) occur in the EOC before, during, and after a disaster:
coordination, policy making, operations management, information management,
documentation, public information, and simulation. During emergency response operations,
information management becomes very important. Emergency management stakeholders - as
decision makers - require access to a variety of distributed data sources to plan, make the right
decisions, and allocate resources for certain tasks [14][15].

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Crisis information and Response Timeline

Information Tsunami disaster begins with tsunami early warning issued by Meteorological,
Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) as the authorized institution. This institution
delivers earthquake information, tsunami early warning information, and suggestions for
follow-up in tsunami-threatened areas to other parties in the tsunami early warning
communication chain. After receiving an emergency tsunami warning message, the next step is
for regional heads to announce that in a crisis situation, and at this time is the beginning of the
crisis phase. At this stage, the crisis center gives the command to disaster management units
regarding steps that must be taken in order to deal with the disaster crisis. In the event of a

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

disaster, the command is integrated at the crisis center. Figure 1 shows the time period of the
tsunami disaster.

Fig. 1. Estimated local tsunami time span [16]

BMKG publishes news tsunami early warning within 5 minutes after the earthquake
occurred, followed by a couple of times news updates news and ending the threat of a tsunami
has ended. Tsunami early warning message contains the tsunami threat level for the district
with the status of 'Awas', 'Siaga' and 'Waspada'.

3.2 Analysis Concept of the Crisis Center Functions

In disaster management, the readiness phase and response phase are part of the disaster
management effort that is nuanced by emergency and often emotional nuances so that the crisis
management function plays an important role. The proposed concept is a combination of
characteristics of the functions of the EOC and crisis management. In chapter 2, a number of
crisis center function concepts have been defined and identified in previous studies. Based on
the existing concept, analysis of key functions is carried out, and then reformulated into a new
concept. The process of forming the crisis center function concept can be seen in Figure 2.

Fig. 2. Concept of crisis center function

3.2.1 Organizational Structure

Design of the organizational structure of crisis center is divided into two stages, namely the
stage of analysis and process.

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

a) Needs analysis design of organizational structure

The selection of organizational structure is intended so that the organization tasked with
managing the crisis and disaster emergency response has a concise but reliable. It is necessary
to ensure that the crisis center head is in charge of the implementation operational and disaster
emergency response management, and does not have the authority to determine the emergency
status of the disaster which is the authority of the highest leadership of the regional
government, namely the district head.
b) Organizational Structure Design Process
In the following organizational structure design, the crisis center head is the command
center and operations leader to provide more flexibility in terms of coordination. more details
can be seen in the Figure 3.

Fig. 3. Crisis center organizational structure

3.2.2 Physical Facilities

The crisis center is a physical location complete with the necessary infrastructure, where a
leader together with a team conducts a meeting, makes a decision, assigns, coordinates,
monitors and controls all actions needed in response to the crisis. These actions include
emergency response actions, recovery and recovery plans, and steps to provide public
information. In developing a crisis center, it needs to be considered: location, building and
supporting facilities.
The chosen location must have natural disaster risks and security threats in low-level. Crisis
center construction specifications issued under the disaster risk management program (DRM)
recommend that crisis center spaces should be designed with reinforced concrete frames, for
twice the seismic strength normally designed by residential buildings in each zone so that the
crisis center building will have factors that much higher than security against possible
earthquakes.
Space layout should allow the team to meet, communicate, work, and stay in the place
within a few days. Communication systems, IT systems, power systems, security systems,
complete with emergency support facilities are imperative in supporting facilities. Figure 4
contains features of supporting facilities from the crisis center.

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

Fig. 4. Features of supporting facilities

3.2.3 Decision Makers

Decisions and procedures are developed at the crisis center to anticipate disaster risk. A
comprehensive emergency plan must determine decisions to respond to certain disaster events.
However, most decisions can be generated by situational demands (eg the amount, time or
specific impact of the threat) and consequently not included in the existing plan. Such decisions
usually represent managerial decisions and strategies taken by the crisis center leadership and
then disseminated. Important points that must be considered when formulating a decision
include: Identification of events; Identification of personnel led with overall responsibility;
identification of key stakeholders; standard operating procedures for operating functions;
emergency resource management system; existing infrastructure [13][15].

3.2.4 Coordination Center

Crisis centers serve as coordination points for emergency activities that provide centralized
meetings, planning, and reporting facilities. Coordination involves assessing the nature of the
threat of a disaster and compiling the organizational resources available to act together with
each other against the threat. Consequently, the crisis center is responsible for ensuring that the
respondent organizations work together and know each other's mission, responsibilities, and
areas of operation. The crisis center leadership uses a comprehensive emergency plan as a
framework for achieving coordination. In this plan a cooperation agreement is made,
assignment of tasks assigned to different organizations, the chain of command and enumeration
of available resources. Coordination is therefore facilitated and established before a disaster
occurs, and is codified in the plan. In this design, the crisis center leadership must creatively
and spontaneously overcome the problems of implementation and mobilization at that time, but
the coordination base is established in the planning process and strengthened through
experience with disaster training or simulation.

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

Fig. 5. Crisis Center as a Coordination Center

3.2.5 Information Center

Information flows to the crisis center during a disaster. Data on the implementation of
disaster response, damage assessment, and recovery operations must be collected, analyzed,
and distributed to the appropriate parties so that they can be followed up in an effective and
timely manner. Information needs related to the impact of disasters, combined, form a crisis
center function as an information center. Beyond the damage assessment, the crisis center
requires information about the successful implementation of the overall disaster response. This
includes information about the timing and effectiveness of operational decisions. The crisis
center is also a clearinghouse for information; collect information about the activities and
successes of various respondent institutions and submit this information to other respondent
institutions with related tasks.
3.2.6 Documentation Center

Information collected on crisis center during a disaster is becoming critical in decision

making, both during and after the emergency. In addition, the documentation of the emergency
response during a disaster event allows for the evaluation in the future about what works and
what doesn't work. This information is often used to define "lessons learned, " which can help
the development of policies and procedures in the future.
3.2.7 Public communication centre

The crisis center is responsible for disseminating information to the public, at-risk
communities, and the media. This will reduce the difficulties associated with incorrect
information and ambiguity because the main source of response data is accurate, that is, from
the crisis center. With regard to public information needs, two hearings are a major concern: the
general public and the community are at risk in the disaster faced. Other important audiences
who sometimes function as a buffer between the crisis center and other publics are mass media.
Historically, it was also known that mass media would disseminate their own information if
disaster managers failed to work together and provide information.

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

Thus, effective disaster management actually requires some consideration from the mass
media. Establishing a function of disseminating information connected with crisis centers can
resolve various difficulties that usually arise in disaster management. It is very important that
the respondent organization in the field not be a source of independent contact with the media.
By concentrating this function in a crisis center, and placing it under the supervision of a public
information officer, someone ensures that consistent and accurate messages are disseminated,
and at the same time facilitates the media to obtain authorized information. The dissemination
of accurate information to the wider community can also reduce the demands of the emergency
response system by:
• ensure that outsiders know where the affected area is and how to avoid it, thereby reducing
problems associated with convergence;
• ensure that outsiders know where affected friends and relatives are, reduce the need for
information to call, visit or "save" these people.
Furthermore, Figure 5 shows the functions of information management and operations
management in the crisis center.

Fig 5. The function of information management and operations management in the crisis center

4. CONCLUSION

In this study, the design of the structure and function of the crisis center has been described.
The crisis center description or model presented here is taken from the research literature
review and related research data. This model can serve regional heads in at least three main
ways. First, it provides a basis for comparison by offering standard structures and functions that
can be compared with existing emergency response centers. Such comparisons are useful
because they encourage oversight of the government's response system, the community, and it's
needed. Second, this model can serve as a guide for the government in building a crisis center.
This design provides structures and functions that might be included in the design of the new
crisis center. Third, the model presented here can be the basis for discussion of how the crisis
center can be designed with the concept of disaster crisis management.
For further research on the function of disaster crisis centers can be done in two focuses.
The first is how to implement the concept of the function that has been designed. The second is
evaluating the concept of crisis management implemented.

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International Conference on Creative Economics, Tourism & Information Management (ICCETIM 2019)

Acknowledgment

For contributions and assistance in this study, the author would like to thank Dr. Ir. Albarda,
M.T. as a supervisor, colleagues in School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Faculty of
electrical Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology who participated in this study,
colleagues in Technical Implementation Unit for Mine’s and Geological Hazard Mitigation,
Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education
of the Republic of Indonesia who provided funding for this study.

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