Page 168 - ITU Kaleidoscope 2016

2016 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

paper we discuss the Maldives, Myanmar, and Philippine 2.2 Sahana Eden Platform
case studies, their warning requirements and the strategy for
customizing SAMBRO and CAP for them. Sahana is a collection of disaster management modules that
This work was made possible through the United Nations work as a platform for integrating multi-organizational
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific response efforts in providing critical information and
Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster, and Climate communication needs. It advocates international data
Preparedness. standards, it is internationalized and localized [8]. Sahana
software is a wrapper around the Python Web2Py software
2. TECHNOLOGY development framework. Sahana strictly follow the HTTP
standard and RESTful concept, making it is easier for third
The technology provides an overview of the CAP version party application to add/edit/delete the information. Sahana
1.2, the Sahana software suite, and the SAMBRO web and follows a Model, View, Controllers (MVC) architecture.
mobile applications. The code-base is hosted in GitHub and free to use and edit
under the MIT license.
2.1 Common Alerting Protocol
2.3 Sahana Alerting and Messaging Broker (SAMBRO)
CAP is an OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of
Structured of Information Standards) advocated Emergency SAMBRO, is a specialized Sahana solution (i.e. a Sahana
Data Exchange Language (EDXL) content standard. CAP is template), designed with CAP version 1.2 as the underlying
designed for all-hazard all-media warnings; a standard that interoperable data standard to serve as a warning and
is recommended by the ITU-T (2008) documented as situational-awareness tool. The original SAMBRO (version
X.1303. The World Meteorological Organization and the 1.0) design, as described in [9], was transformed with newer
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent are features. The current SAMBRO version 2.0 builds on a
also key advocates of the standard. Google Crisis Response decade of action research as discussed in [10], [11], and
offers to publish NWC generated CAP feeds through their [12]. SAMBRO is designed to serve as a CAP message
products including Google Public Alerts. Federation of publisher, aggregator, and a disseminator.
Internet Alerting is a consortium of online advertising
agencies that have extended the service of rendering alerts 2.3.1. Control
on their online ad-spaces. Meteo-alarm and Accuweather
are other, among several, online services that help Nations Implementers define the metadata and ready the system
publicize CAP messages. defining the event types, warning classification, predefined
Figure 1 shows the CAP Document Object Model. It is alerting areas, CAP message templates, and grants user
essentially a XML document that inherits the permissions. Publishers are authorized users who creates
interoperability aspects of the XML technology. The data CAP warning messages in consent of their seniors and
structure consists of a main node element <Alert> and its approve for their dissemination. Subscribers are
sub elements (node) <Info>, <Area>, and <Resources>. authenticated users with minimum roles allowing them to
Each of the sub elements are composed of several other subscribe to receive warnings of their choice.
elements. The ITU-T X.1303 document defines each of The access control and permission of SAMBRO allows us
these elements with respect to semantic interoperability. to control the access of the application at different level.
X.1303, is broadly recognized internationally as the key The permission access can be controlled at the module
standard to achieve the goal of all hazards, all-media public levels, particular table levels, functional levels, and/or
alerting. individual record level. This is a much needed use-case for
the warning, as there are many data which are only shared at
organization level or between some closed user group and
not to public.
SAMBRO’s Audit trail is another distinguishing feature in
the system. The system keep records of who logged into the
system, who created the alert, when it was created, when it
was submitted for approval, who approves it, when it was
approved and many of the essential information that are
needed for the audit purpose. After an alert is issued, a
snapshot of the record independent of all the external
references are kept in another table.

2.3.2. Features

All workflows are guided by the initial selection of the

event type. Cyclone, Flood, Earthquake, Mass Movement,
Figure 1: CAP Document Object Model Civil Unrest, are examples of event types. They are the high

– 150 –