Preface

Typhoons, earthquakes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, droughts, and other extreme weather events have the potential to devastate lives and infrastructure. Typhoons, landslides, and Pacific Ring of Fire earthquakes threaten Taiwan's west coast. In 2005, the World Bank estimated that a disaster in Taiwan would affect more than 90% of the population and area.

According to Disaster Risk Adaptation statistics, Taiwan experienced 398 disasters between 1958 and 2024. Heavy rain and water-related disasters accounted for 23%, earthquakes 9%, and other disasters 3%. Approximately 65% were typhoons. Between 2012 and 2022, Taiwanese disasters killed 3,500 people. Typhoons and torrential rains cost NT$15 billion per year.

Furthermore, geological movements and climate change have resulted in 19 natural disasters worldwide. These disasters are caused by heavy rainfall (20%), earthquakes (19%), and floods (18%). The WEF disaster model forecasts 14.5 million deaths, $12.5 trillion in economic losses, and $1.1 trillion in medical assistance by 2050.

The data presented above discuss disaster risks and their implications for Taiwan and the world. These hazards harm infrastructure, people, and social resilience. This emphasizes the importance of effective disaster prevention and reduction strategies in building resilience through improved disaster preparedness and mitigation.

Fostering Social Awareness of Disaster Prevention and Response: Focus on Six Key Issues

Disasters destroy buildings and infrastructure, displacing people and harming the environment, and requiring substantial reconstruction and recovery. Consequently, disaster resilience must be addressed immediately. Addressing the following issues would raise disaster risk awareness:

• A systematic mechanism for reducing disaster risks: Managing a wide range of disaster risks necessitates a comprehensive disaster prevention and resource readiness mechanism. This mechanism should include a disaster prevention and response resource inventory, execution strategies, risk warning systems, post-disaster reconstruction plans, and other software designs. These mechanisms improve disaster response, reduce losses, and promote resilience and sustainability.
• Ensuring the safety of modern infrastructure: Conduct regular infrastructure inspections and maintenance and set modern construction safety and disaster prevention standards. Conducting scientific safety inspections and updates and increasing society's disaster awareness and response capabilities reduce disasters.
• Integrating cross-departmental coordination in disaster prevention and response: Monitoring disaster prevention and response resources is crucial during disaster recovery. Departmental cooperation maximizes collaboration benefits. The coordination mechanism improves post-disaster recovery, social resilience, and disaster response sustainability.
• Introducing new technology and applications for disaster prevention and response: Use new technologies and methods to improve disaster response and recovery. Innovative technologies like early warning systems, rapid recovery mechanisms, and smart city infrastructure  improve disaster prevention and reduction.
• Enhancing public and societal understanding of disaster prevention and response:Improving public understanding of disaster prevention and response results in increased response skills and awareness. Individuals and communities benefit from increased knowledge, which helps to reduce disaster damage and speed up recovery.
• Focusing on Social Vulnerability and Disadvantaged Groups: Disasters make disadvantaged communities more vulnerable, limiting their ability to respond, recover, and use resources. Understanding how social vulnerability affects group recovery and protection is crucial. We promote social equity and reduce negative effects by planning and implementing targeted assistance measures and policies.
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Two Case Studies Show How Innovative Companies Promote Disaster Prevention and Response Practices.

The survey included 152 global disaster prevention and response startups. On average, these startups use 3.42 disaster prevention and response technologies from 156 categories. Industrial safety, disaster consulting, disaster prevention business, and disaster technology are application technologies. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is crucial to improving disaster response capabilities due to the diversity and complexity of today's disaster response applications. We will introduce two startups and discuss their disaster prevention and response solutions.

Case Study 1: One Concern

Ahmad Wani, Nicole Hu, and Timothy Frank, three Stanford graduates, founded One Concern in California in 2015 as a cutting-edge technology company. The disaster-prevention and life-saving technology company has raised $120 million.

By using disaster risk models and machine learning to set parameters, One Concern has achieved critical technological benefits. They developed a high-precision dynamic disaster scenario modeling system that provides real-time disaster prevention data based on geography, climate, and population. One Concern has become a global disaster risk assessment startup by expanding into financial services, sustainable environments, artificial intelligence, and data analysis.

Case Study 2:ICEYE

Laurila and Modrzewski, both Aalborg University graduates, founded CEYE in Espoo, Finland in 2014. The company uses the world's largest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system and has raised a total of $406 million.

ICEYE provides microwave-based high-resolution spatial data for offshore monitoring, environmental evaluation, resource exploitation, national security, disaster management, and disaster insurance data analysis. Cloud computing powers their dynamic imaging system for disaster response, which provides 24-hour real-time flood alerts and wildfire monitoring and comprehensive disaster risk reduction solutions.

Four Key Benefits of Digital Technology in Disaster Prevention

Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, remote sensing, radar systems, satellite imaging, cellphones, social media platforms, and advanced building materials are being used in disaster risk reduction solutions. These suggestions aim to improve disaster prevention and response. Applications for these technologies are listed below:

• Remote sensing uses satellites and UAVs to gather environmental data. Remote sensing technology is used to track tropical cyclones, wildfires, and flooding. It calculates disaster losses and spatial distribution by combining GIS and three-dimensional disaster hazard maps.
• Radio waves are used in radar technology to detect and locate objects. Radar is widely used to track typhoons, monitor landslides, and detect environmental hazards. Doppler radar and microwave sensor displacement modules improve disaster prevention and response by providing early warnings via alert systems. Satellite imaging captures disaster-area surface photos and data. It aids early disaster detection when combined with disaster prevention GIS, abnormal climate monitoring, flood monitoring, and wildfire warning systems.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) interconnects a wide range of sensors via the Internet and cloud computing. When combined with earthquake detectors and seismic monitoring equipment, it improves disaster detection and management while decreasing casualties.
• Social media and smartphones enable real-time disaster warnings and rescue operations, including SMS alerts and data dissemination. Disaster prevention and response efforts become more transparent, stabilizing victims' mental health.

However, incorporating modern technologies into disaster prevention and response scenarios has four major benefits that boost resilience:

• Information integration enhances resource allocation. Precise information integration and resource allocation systems speed up disaster response and increase decision-making accuracy. This significantly reduces catastrophe-related personnel and property losses, increasing overall disaster prevention effectiveness.
• Increase the sensitivity of real-time monitoring systems. We increase the sensitivity and duration of early warning systems by combining remote sensing, satellite imaging, and ground sensor networks. This is expected to reduce socioeconomic losses associated with disasters while increasing community resilience.
• Improve infrastructure resilience to disasters. Using sophisticated building materials and design techniques, as well as strict industrial safety regulations, improves critical infrastructure's ability to withstand earthquakes, typhoons, and floods, contributing to overall disaster resilience.

Conclusion

Disasters have long endangered human life, societal stability, and infrastructure. Recent disasters have increased in frequency and severity, emphasizing the need for disaster prevention and infrastructure safety research.Integrating cutting-edge technology into practical applications is crucial in this environment.

Focusing on the benefits of new technologies for disaster risk reduction and disaster prevention and mitigation resilience, these technologies—such as remote sensing, radar, satellites, and the Internet of Things— be deployed under disaster management conditions. They help humans predict, respond to, and recover from disasters more precisely, increasing human life safety and limiting infrastructure damage.

Thus, we advocate a Disaster Risk Reduction approach that emphasizes real-time, intelligent, digital, and integrated resilienceusing new technology, innovative thinking, and collaboration. New disaster management technology improve society, the economy, and the environment, making society more secure and resilient. This concept enhances disaster risk management and promotes long-term social security and sustainable development.