Terminology in Crisis and Disaster
Management
CEN Workshop Agreement
Georg Neubauer, AIT
http://www.ait.ac.at
Background
 The FP7 project EPISECC develops a concept of a common
information space including taxonomy building to improve
interoperability between European crisis managers and stakeholders
 EPISECC is mandated to provide the outcome of its research to
international standardisation – involvement in CEN TC391
 Within the FP7 project DRIVER a standard on terminology in crisis
management shall be developed (among multiple other goals)
 DRIVER & EPISECC will jointly co-operate on this issue
 Additional support is planned from the FP7 projects REDIRNET,
SECINCORE and SECTOR (all dealing with interoperability)
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Scope and Purpose
 Provision of an overview of existing terminologies and definitions
applied in multiple domains of crisis and disaster management
 Overview on synonyms with the same or similar definitions
 Overview on different definitions for the same term
 Benefit: Support enhancement of mutual understanding of
users/organizations applying different standards/taxonomies
 Benefit: Potential long term perspective: enhanced use of most
suitable terms and definitions arising from multiple sources
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Scope and Purpose (Example)
Domain
Term
Societal security
disaster
not specified
Natural disasters
Natural disasters
Definition
Standard/document
situation where widespread human, material,
economic or environmental losses have
occurred which
exceeded the ability of the affected
organization (2.2.9), community or society to
respond and recover
using its own resources
Intended Users
ISO 22300 (2012)
not specified
A serious disruption of the functioning of
a community or a society involving
widespread human, material, economic or
environmental losses and impacts, which
exceeds the ability of the affected
community or society to cope using its own
resources.
UNISDR Terminology (2009)
authorities, pratictioners
and the public
disaster
no definition given
Disaster Category
Classification and peril
Terminology for Operational
Purposes - Working paper 264 user of EM-DAT and
(2009)
other databases
climatological disaster
Disaster Category
Events caused by long-lived/meso to
Classification and peril
macro scale processes (in the spectrum from Terminology for Operational
intraseasonal to multidecadal climate
Purposes - Working paper 264 user of EM-DAT and
variability)
(2009)
other databases
disaster
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Idea
Developing a new common terminology in Crisis and
Disaster Management
Versus
Organizing existing terminologies into a database and
establishing semantic mappings between their concepts
Database of terminologies
Database based on the standard:
• ISO 25964 - standard for thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies
• SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System)
ISO 22300
DRIVER
EPISECC
REDIRNET
SECTOR
SECINCORE
? terminology
entering
terms by
WebProte
ge
Sources of existing
terminologies:
 ISO 22300 (2012)
 UNISDR Terminology (2009)
 ...

UNISDR

project proposals: EPISECC,
DRIVER, REDIRNET,
SECINCORE and SECTOR
Another option: national project
INKA
Database of terminologies
Establishing semantic mappings between the terminologies’
terms/concepts
To use thesaurus features to enhance operability of the database
ISO 22300
DRIVER
EPISECC
REDIRNET
SECTOR
SECINCORE
X terminology
UNISDR
entering
mappings
by
WebProte
ge
Term A from ISO 22300
is synonym of
Term B from UNISDR Terminology
Term C from ISO 22300
is broader term of
Term D from UNISDR Terminology
Justification
 Cross-border and cross-organisation information exchange
between stakeholders is one of the major challenges of European as
well as international crisis management
 First investigations demonstrated that European CM organisations
use a large variety of standards and procedures leading to a
considerable variability of applied terms and associated definitions
 In addition, language barriers play a crucial role
 It is unlikely that any organisation or any member country is ready to
adapt their SOPs, standards, procedures for a common standard
 Availability of an (extendable) overview on terms and definitions might
be a crucial step to improve interoperability
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Relation to EU Mandate/Directive
 Mandate M/487 to Establish Security Standards (2011)
 COM (2012) 417 final – Security Industrial Policy – Action Plan for an
innovative and competitive security industry
 ….
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List of Related Documents*)
Standard Nr
Document Name
ISO/PAS 22399 : Societal security - Guideline for incident preparedness and
2007
operational continuity management
ISO
Name and/or Short Description
ISO 22300:2012 contains terms and definitions applicable to
societal security to establish a common
understanding so that consistent terms are used
Societal security - Emergency management - Requirements for
incident response
ISO/PAS 22399:2007 provides general guidance for an
organization — private, governmental, and
nongovernmental organizations
Societal security -- Mass evacuation -- Guidelines for
ISO 22315:2014 planning
Societal security -- Organizational resilience -- Principles
ISO/CD 22316 and guidelines
ISO 22315:2014 provides guidelines for mass evacuation planning
in terms of establishing, implementing,
monitoring, evaluating, reviewing, and improving preparedness.
Societal security -- Organizational resilience -- Principles and
guidelines
ISO 22300 : 2012 Societal security -- Terminology
Societal security -- Emergency management -ISO 22320 :2011 Requirements for incident response
Organization
ISO
ISO
ISO
ISO
Societal security -- Emergency management -- Guidelines
ISO 22322:2015 for public warning
ISO
ISO guide 73 :
2009
ISO
Risk management -- Vocabulary
ISO 31000 : 2009 Risk management -- Principles and guidelines
X.cee.2
CEE dictionary and event taxonomy (CDET)
ISO 22322:2015 provides guidelines for developing, managing, and
implementing public warning before,
during, and after incidents.
ISO Guide 73:2009 provides the definitions of generic terms
related to risk management. It aims to
encourage a mutual and consistent understanding of, and a
coherent approach to, the description of activities relating to the
management of risk, and the use of uniform risk management
terminology in processes and frameworks dealing with the
management of risk.
ISO 31000:2009 provides principles and generic guidelines on risk
management.
ISO
International Telegraph
Union
CEE dictionary and event taxonomy (CDET)
*) the listed documents do not intend to be complete and are of illustrative character
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Joint/Parallel Work (1)
 EN ISO 22300 Societal Security - Terminology (2014-07) à under
revision: The revision process will identify the terms used in more than
one standard and confirm that their definitions are consistent
(http://www.isotc292online.org/projects/ISO-22300-/)
 DIN SPEC 91330 - Terminology relating to events in pipeline- and
cable-based infrastructures (2015-08)
 ANSI/ASTM E 176 - Terminology of Fire Standards (2015-00)
 ISO Guide 73:2009 - Risk management – Vocabulary (2009-11) à
under revision
(http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1963)
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Joint/Parallel Work (2)
 DS 3001 Organizational resilience: Security, preparedness, and
continuity management systems - Requirements with guidance for
use (2009-10)
An extensive Glossary of terms appears in Annex D
 BS 11200 - Crisis management. Guidance and good practice (201405)
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Thank you for your
attention!!
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