AN ONTOLOGICAL APPROACH TO RISK MITIGATION OF LONG LASTING SOCIAL CRISIS INCIDENTS THROUGH COMMUNICATION

Managing effectively social crisis incidents, that are triggered by natural or man-made disasters and influence the operation and the availability of the critical infrastructure i.e. electricity, water supply transportation and telecommunications, is a complex task to deal with, due to the presence of multiple domain entities which are involved in such circumstances. An efficient path that can be followed in order to mitigate the risk of potential human and financial losses, caused by a social crisis incident, is the creation of a communication model that can be interpreted by all the involved experts. Ontological models incorporate common glossaries and are suitable tools for achieving effective communication among all Domain Entities. The current paper deals with the creation of an Ontological approach for managing social crisis incidents. The delineated framework includes multiple interdisciplinary Ontological Entities in order to be clearly understood by all the experts who formulate crisis management strategies. The main advantageous elements of this contribution are its flexibility, which is ensured by the unlimited number and independent ranking order of the Ontological Entities, as well as the adoption of mathematical tools that measure the impact of each Entity on the decision - making process in order to face social crises. The model also estimates the time required to restore Critical Infrastructure in such situations and mitigate in this way the risk of an extended social crisis. The decision about this timeframe is made through the study and analysis of past data regarding similar emergency situations.