Abstract
Maintaining effective and timely flood management capabilities in Saudi Arabia has historically presented several key challenges for Saudi Civil Defense (CD) in Jeddah and Mecca. This paper presents a prototype Intelligent Information Technology (IT) system principally to assist Saudi CD Authority in evaluating the right equipment capabilities to respond and manage flood event(s). The novelty of this study stems from examining the effectiveness of using the proposed Intelligent IT System in managing readiness of equipment and emergency management capabilities in the Saudi CD Authority. This was achieved through an extended evaluation process of the emergency management capabilities. The study considering and developing different flood risk zone-specific issues - against predetermined level of flood readiness, hazards and vulnerabilities. A fuzzy expert system approach was used to aid the evaluation process. The IT System was developed and evaluated with the aid of end user oriented structured interviews. The IT system was found to add value to decision makers when assessing and planning their flood planning capabilities.