Mobile-Enabled Technologies in Disaster Management: A Systematic Literature Review

The growing frequency of global disasters highlighted the need to integrate technology into disaster management. This systematic review describes the global landscape of mobile phone technologies for natural hazard-induced disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

A systematic review was conducted by searching databases, including Embase and MEDLINE, for studies published in English between 2000 and March 2024 that examined mobile applications for disaster management.

The review included 26 studies covering 77 mobile apps across 14 countries. Most apps were privately owned (78.26%), supported multiple disaster phases (41.56%), and favored the Android platform (46.67%), with GPS being the most common technology (15.58%). Apps primarily targeted the general public (63.64%) and focused on earthquakes (32.47%) and hurricanes (31.17%). Despite their potential, adoption remains low; only 11.33% (6 apps) exceeded 1 million downloads, while 33.96% failed to surpass 1,000 downloads.

This review highlights significant gaps in the development, adoption, and impact of disaster management apps, especially in high-risk regions. Future efforts must focus on enhancing accessibility, addressing user needs, expanding features, and fostering stakeholder collaboration to improve the effectiveness of mobile technologies in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.