Emergency Management Networks Research Articles

Humanitarian Organizational Network and Effectiveness of Disaster Response — A Theoretical Review

In the humanitarian assistance sector, the primary objective of inter-organizational networks is to ensure that there are efficient and effective humanitarian response efforts that meet the needs of the affected population to the maximum extent possible (Drabek, 1987; Zhao et al., 2009). However, theoretical perspectives on humanitarian organizational networks and effective disaster response have remained relatively modest and confined to developing basic typologies of coordination arrangements and identifying the challenges encountered in the disaster management process. (Bennett, 1999) There also seems to be limited academic endeavor to use network, complexity, chaos and systems theories for disaster research not only for large-scale emergencies worldwide but also in developing countries. Most research works concentrate on an approach limited to a much smaller scale of nodes (organizational actors). In the preceding section, a review of relevant theories is presented in the context of humanitarian organizational network and disaster response.

Collaboration risk, vulnerability, and resource sharing in disaster management networks

AbstractLocal governments have the authority to implement emergency management and are the primary responders in emergencies. They are strategically positioned to lead the charge in disaster response. Similar to other wicked problems, disasters require comprehensive and complicated responses. Local emergency management networks facilitate the exchange of information and resources between local entities and their collaborating partners. Successful collaboration across local governments is imperative in unexpected and urgent incidents. This paper applies the institutional collective action (ICA) framework to investigate the effects of relational risk and vulnerability on the formation of networks. The relational risk perceived by each collaborative organisation and the vulnerability of the community are crucial factors in the establishment and maintenance of collaborative networks. In addition, the need for resource exchange also affects the formation of networks. Logistic regression estimates the effect of collaboration risk and vulnerability on network formation using data from the 2015 Seoul EM survey. The findings confirm that the perceived collaboration risk negatively influences the establishment of collaborative ties in networks, while the perceived vulnerability level positively affects the arrangement of collaborative networks. In addition, the respondent's need for resource exchange increases when building networks. These results imply that relieving the relational risk levels is important for facilitating inter‐organisational collaboration. Furthermore, the actors’ assessments of the vulnerability of the community influence their willingness to join networks to relieve external uncertainty and susceptibility. Lastly, organisations’ give‐and‐take relationships on information sharing and physical resource transmission have the potential to stimulate the establishment of collaborative networks.Points for practitioners Sustainable interconnectedness among functionally and horizontally fragmented organisations is crucial for dealing with disasters efficiently, but it does not come solely from emergency management planning itself. Understanding the risk mechanism embedded in an interdependent relationship should increase the potential benefits of a successful response. The degree of vulnerability in a community affects the level of risk perception when collaborating with other organisations. Beyond the internal capacity or assessment of their organisation, how they view their community in general influences their decision‐making differently when it comes to forging inter‐relational collaboration. Resource sharing in a timely manner is crucial during disasters. Each organisation has different negotiating powers and needs to consider building interdependent relationships.

Headwinds in the heartland? Hazard planning lessons from six inland jurisdictions in the southern plains

The recent 20th anniversary of the adoption of the United States’ Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA) offers an occasion to reflect on the performance of the intergovernmental policy framework it created to incentivize local hazard mitigation planning. Researchers know little about the status of local hazard mitigation planning in oft-overlooked inland communities and they know little about high-quality mitigation planning in the middle of the country. This study helps fill these gaps with a multistate, six-county comparative case study approach in the Southern Plains using data collected from the evaluation of plan documents and interviews with key informants. Our three core findings are: (1) the hazard mitigation plans tend to be of low to mediocre quality; (2) the networks of hazard mitigation stakeholders vary widely in composition and leadership, some replicating emergency management networks suited to preparedness and response and some much better suited to the quite different demands of long-term mitigation work; and (3) the types of consultants and their roles also varied across the six cases, bringing expertise characteristic of narrow emergency management perspectives to more integrated expertise in long-range land use and infrastructure planning perspectives. Without the requirements of the DMA, it is difficult to imagine that thousands of communities would have dedicated millions of dollars and untold hours to develop mitigation plans. Yet, as our findings show, the DMA is likely in need of a major overhaul, in spite of recent efforts like the new Federal Emergency Management Agency Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

Utilising qualitative data for social network analysis in disaster research: opportunities, challenges, and an illustration.

An abundance of unstructured and loosely structured data on disasters exists and can be analysed using network methods. This paper overviews the use of qualitative data in quantitative social network analysis in disaster research. It discusses two types of networks, each with a relevant major topic in disaster research-that is, (i) whole network approaches to emergency management networks and (ii) personal network approaches to the social support of survivors-and four usable forms of qualitative data. This paper explains five opportunities afforded by these approaches, revolving around their flexibility and ability to account for complex network structures. Next, it presents an empirical illustration that extends the authors' previous work examining the sources and the types of support and barrier experienced by households during long-term recovery from Hurricane (Superstorm) Sandy (2012), wherein quantitative social network analysis was applied to two qualitative datasets. The paper discusses three challenges associated with these approaches, related to the samples, coding, and bias.

Navigating collaborative governance: Network ignorance and the performative planning of South Australia's emergency management

This paper examines the roles for emergency and disaster risk management plans as policy artefacts that guide centralised governance networks. Past scholarship has been sceptical of the instrumental worth of these artefacts for informing and elaborating governance arrangements. Some suspect that such plans are purely symbolic devices, mere ‘fantasy documents’. This paper examines the role of South Australia's state emergency management plan during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019–2020. The study provides confirmation of the symbolic utility of these plans for central government, while also providing evidence for some suggested difficulties with centralised emergency management networks, about which there is still limited empirical demonstration. Drawing on focus group and interview testimony from senior actors at strategic, tactical and operational levels of South Australia's emergency network, however, we also demonstrate instrumental-heuristic worth of these plans for network actors seeking to make sense of a continually changing bureaucratic landscape, and when reflecting on the value of the network in the aftermath of extreme events.

Resilience policing and disaster management during Australia's Black Summer bushfire crisis

Policing landscapes are being transformed by disaster risks associated with climate change. ‘Resilience policing’ is described as an emergent model of security governance that builds upon established state-based community policing traditions to support the management of these complex risks and hazards. The assumption is that established policing capabilities might be harnessed to enhance disaster resilience. Empirical research on resilience policing is lacking however, and it is unclear whether this model is truly innovative, or simply a progression of established community policing models. This article explores these questions by considering how local police contributed to disaster management activities in a remote rural community which was directly impacted by Australia's catastrophic Black Summer bushfires in 2019–20. Our qualitative, empirical case study illustrates how institutionalized learnings, organizational and systemic reforms, and everyday policing activities enhanced the absorptive and adaptive capabilities of police as emergency responders, emergency management networks, and local residents. Our analysis indicates that a resilience policing model, anchored in existing community engagement and partnership-working methods, may hold promise as a means of enhancing the adaptative capacity of police and improving alignment between policing and emergency management networks. Less optimistically, it reveals potential obstacles to adapting this template for use in complex policing environments, sustaining institutional focus and adaptive capabilities amidst poly-crises, and aligning policing roles and mandates with transformative climate adaptation agendas.

Interagency collaboration within the city emergency management network: a case study of Super Ministry Reform in China.

Emergencies continue to become ever more complex; responding to them, therefore, often is beyond the capabilities and capacities of any single public agency. Hence, collaboration among these actors is necessary to prepare for, respond to, and recover from such events. This seldom occurs in an effective or efficient manner, however. Drawing on resource dependence theory and the concept of social capital, this paper reveals that different types of collaborative relationships exist within the collaborative network. Super Ministry Reform of Emergency Management in China serves as a case in point. By evaluating network efficiency and classifying the collaborative relationships of involved government agencies, four types are identified: resource-redundant; resource-complementary; resource-dependent; and resource-isolated. The different influences of collaborative relationships explain why the reform is not that effective, although it has led to the merger of several core departments in the emergency management network. The findings are a reminder to consider network structure and collaboration types when engaging in institutional design.

A Systematic Review of Empirical Emergency Management Network Research: Formation and Development, Properties, and Performance

Although network analysis has gained much attention in emergency management studies, there are few systematic reviews of emergency management network studies in public administration. After reviewing 44 journals, this article identified and reviewed a total of 58 studies that conducted network analysis in the context of emergency management. Based on existing literature, this article summarizes the common and unique factors driving network formation and development, describes the structural characteristics of emergency management networks, and reports the performance measures that have been used to evaluate network performance. It concludes by addressing research gaps, presenting propositions and recommendations for future research, and highlighting implications for emergency management practice. The context of this review is emergency management, but the three network research streams focused upon—network formation and development, network properties, and network performance—are relevant to all management and policy domains. This review also underscores the need to further explore the dynamic process of network formation and outcomes of network relationships and structures.

Complementarity of Communication and Coordination in Ensuring Effectiveness of Emergency Management Networks

Inter-organizational communication, coordination, and network effectiveness have long been of great interest. However, the level of their complexity and situational dependencies still create challenges for researchers and public managers. It is usually assumed that inter-organizational communication leads to inter-organizational coordination, but little is known how these processes interact and complement each other. This article aims at identifying relationships linking these processes and analyzing their impact on effectiveness of emergency management networks. Achieving the goal of the article based on the survey questionnaire conducted with 83 experts. The results were analyzed using the principal components analysis (PCA), correlation analysis, hierarchical clustering, and partial least-square path modeling (PLS-PM). The analyses conducted allow for identifying the dimensions of the research processes, and relationships linking them. This was the basis for building the research models testing how relationships between inter-organizational communication and coordination influence the effectiveness of emergency management networks. Comparing analyzed models points to complementarity, parallelism, and the possibility of a non-sequential course of inter-organizational communication and coordination.

Advanced Trauma Life Support training. How useful it is?

For more than 20 years, following the changes that took place in Albania in 1992, we receive information from trauma patients in the media about the delivery of trauma services. Police records are worthy of a war balance report. Trauma is estimated to be the cause of deaths in 13.7% / 100,000 people. Every two days three Albanian Citizens die because of Automobile Accidents…
 Changes have already taken place, but the question arises, who cares about the trauma and its management?
 Formerly and now the state ... ok ... but? Is this enough?
 The Ministry of Health should have a “Trauma Committee” if yes… is it active?
 Already of the three years at the heart of these medical emergency management networks is a National Center of Medical Emergency (NCME).
 The trauma service delivery is now evolving along the lines of a central and spoken model with a concentration of expertise and specialization in the center surrounded by smaller units that feed on the center.
 The study showed a 19% increase in the chances of survival since the introduction of these changes. Another 1,600 trauma victims are alive today due to developments in the administration of trauma patients in England over the past six years.
 In this system or mode of organizing what is today the NCME or organizing the transport of traumatized from the scene to the University Hospital of Trauma... by medical staff who have done a substantial part of the PhTLS® course ... How is the educational status of personal in other regions far from Capital? ATLS® student courses in our country have been implemented by few and individually… ASTES, by default rules, has acquired the right to organize ATLS® in Albania…

"COVID-19: Network Effectiveness of Intermunicipal Self-Organized Response in Chile"

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, public officials are called on to implement different strategies in order to respond effectively. One of the lessons of emergency management research is that effective response is unlikely without collaboration. Research on collaborative emergency management has focused on measuring the effectiveness of intergovernmental and intersectoral relationships, but little is known about the performance of inter-jurisdictional collaboration. This paper seeks to measure the network effectiveness of intermunicipal self-organized response to Covid-19. It uses a network analysis approach to compare planned and actual emergency management networks operating in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of Chile. Content analysis of 202 formal agreements established by municipalities in 2009-2019 was used to capture the planned network. The actual network was depicted by collecting original data through an online survey that represented the 96% of the local governments located in this Latin American city. The results show a structural gap between planned and actual networks and reveal effectiveness problems associated with the disaster preparedness phase. However, an emergent intermunicipal network has supported collaborative response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The study provides lessons for policymakers, public managers and researchers in the collaborative emergency management field.

Networks in disaster emergency management: a systematic review

The research of emergency management networks (EMNs) attracted much attention in recent years. However, it is lack of a systematic study to review these results. This paper aims to review publications related to EMNs based on a three-stage research framework. Then, the main research status, research methods and research topics were determined through scientometric analysis and qualitative discussion. It turns out that the research interest in EMNs is increasing. The USA, Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong have been the countries/regions conducted the most EMNs research. The scholars include but not limited to Kapucu, Comfort, Jung, Song, and Drabek were identified as the active scholars in this field. Survey/interview was found as the most popular data collection method; social network analysis was the most commonly used data analysis method. Emergency management (EM) network characteristics, network structure, and network performance and its influencing factors were the main research topics. The results of this review would provide a useful reference for both disaster EM researchers and practitioners.

Testing the forms and consequences of collaboration risk in emergency management networks

ABSTRACT This paper elaborates the concept of collaboration risk and measures collaboration risk in an emergency management context to investigate the relations between perceived collaboration risks and network structure and to test a hypothesized non-linear form for this relation. Using an Institutional Collective Action (ICA) framework, the study discusses three dimensions of collaborative risk derived from coordination, division, and defection risk and measures these by means of a structured-survey of 69 organizations in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea. The results of a fractional polynomial regression model show that the perceived level of collaboration risk has an inverse U-curve relation with the number of collaborative ties forged by organizations. These findings imply that organizations’ perceived collaboration risk beyond a threshold point motivates the termination of former ineffective arrangements. At the same time, the collaboration with other participants increases to a specific level of collaboration risk.

Exploring complex adaptive networks in the aftermath of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

In the decade since the Wenchuan earthquake of 2008, significant earthquakes have occurred in Yushu, Lushan, and Ludian in China. A comparison of the collaborative behaviors of emergency organizations in these four cases reveals some trends or regularities. This study uses complex adaptive network theory to examine three propositions: first, organizational collaborative behaviors are driven by tasks; second, government departments show less initiative in cross-sector cooperation than NGOs and enterprises; and third, the emergency management network has a core-periphery structure. All of these propositions are supported by our social network analysis (SNA), which considers modularity, centrality, cliques, and singular value decomposition (SVD) in a two-mode network. The results support the three propositions given above and suggest that emergency management networks are time-variant systems. In particular, we argue that estrangement between different sectors needs to be overcome to improve these networks.

Bushfire investigations in Australia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the process of collective leadership in emergency management organisations. More specifically, the authors investigate the conditions that enable or prevent collective leadership amongst key actors in the emergency management network in bushfire investigations. We also examine how chief investigators facilitate the conditions to effectively distribute leadership and the role of social networks within this process.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study approach was undertaken, and 18 semi-structured interviews were carried out with chief investigators, 6 at each of three agencies in Australia. A framework for understanding collective leadership (Friedrich et al., 2016) was used to examine key leadership constructs, baseline leadership and outcomes relative to bushfire investigations.FindingsFindings demonstrate that there is no evidence of collective leadership at the network level of bushfire investigations. There is mixed evidence of collective leadership within bushfire investigation departments, with the Arson Squad being the only government agency to engage in collective leadership. The authors found evidence that government bureaucracy and mandated protocols inhibited the ability of formal leaders to distribute leadership, gauge a clear understanding of the level of skill and expertise amongst chief investigators and poor communication that inhibited knowledge of investigations.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to three bushfire investigative agencies. A future study will be carried out with other stakeholders, such as fire investigators and firefighters in the field.Practical implicationsFor the government, emergency management agencies and other stakeholders, a key enabler of collective leadership within the emergency management network is the presence of a formal leader within a network. That leader has the authority and political ability to distribute leadership to other experts.Social implicationsThe paper contributes to developing a better understanding of the efficacy and challenges associated with the application of collective leadership theory in a complex government bureaucracy. There are positive implications for the safety of firefighters, the protection of the broader community, their properties and livestock.Originality/valueThe authors address the lack of literature on effective leadership processes amongst emergency management agencies. The paper contributes to extending collective leadership theory by unpacking the processes through which leadership is distributed to team members and the role of institutions (i.e. fire investigation bureaucracy) on social networks within this integrative process. The authors provide new insights into the practice of collective leadership in complex bureaucratic organisations.

ATLS® Course Albania Brunch Step by Step

For more than 20 years, following the changes that took place in Albania in 1992, we receive information from trauma patients in the media about the delivery of trauma services. Police records are worthy of a war balance report. Trauma is estimated to be the cause of deaths in 13.7% / 100,000 people. Every two days three Albanian Citizens die because of Automobile Accidents… Changes have already taken place, but the question arises, who cares about the trauma and its management? Formerly and now the state ... ok ... but? Is this enough? The Ministry of Health should have a“Trauma Committee” if yes… is it active? Already of the three years at the heart of these medical emergency management networks is a National Center of Medical Emergency (NCME). The trauma service delivery is now evolving along the lines of a central and spoken model with a concentration of expertise and specialization in the center surrounded by smaller units that feed on the center. The study showed a 19% increase in the chances of survival since the introduction of these changes. Another 1,600 trauma victims are alive today due to developments in the administration of trauma patients in England over the past six years. In this system or mode of organizing what is today the NCME or organizing the transport of traumatized from the scene to theUniversity Hospital of Trauma... by medical staff who have done a substantial part of the PhTLS® course ... How is the educational status of personal in other regions far from Capital? ATLS® student courses in our country have been implemented by few and individually… ASTES, by default rules, has acquired the right to organize ATLS® in Albania…

The Mechanism of Social Organization Participation in Natural Hazards Emergency Relief: A Case Study Based on the Social Network Analysis.

The uncertainty and complexity of natural hazards put forward new requirements for emergency management systems. In order to deal with natural hazards effectively, it is important to build a cooperative network between government organizations and social organizations. The social network analysis method is adopted, the April 2013 Ya’an China earthquake is taken as a case study, the institutionalized emergency organization network before the disaster and the actual response organization network after the disaster are analyzed, and centrality, between centrality, closeness centrality and core-periphery are calculated. Through qualitative and quantitative research, the functions of social organization in the process of natural hazards emergency relief are revealed, the role orientation of social organization in the emergency management network is analyzed, and the influence factors of the social organization participation in the natural hazards relief is pointed out. Research results will help to promote the cooperation between social organization and government, and improve the efficiency of natural hazards emergency relief.

People-oriented emergency response mechanism—An example of the emergency work when typhoon Meranti stroked Xiamen

China is a country with frequent meteorological disasters. At the same time, it is also a big country with population of more than one billion. In 2006, the Chinese government adopted the people-oriented emergency response mechanism (POERM), which has successfully reduced mortality. How does China quickly transform an idea into an emergency management practice? In 2016, Xiamen initiated the POERM, which successfully reduced the losses caused by the super typhoon Meranti. Taking this disaster incident as an example, this paper analyzes the operation process of POERM from three aspects: laws and regulations, emergency management networks and supervision mechanisms. The laws and regulations are designed to guide people-centered behavior; the emergency management network is designed to achieve functions of the POERM; the supervisory mechanism is responsible for ensuring the efficiency and quality of the emergency response mechanism. We found that the central government successfully passed the pressure to local governments through the POERM. Moreover, it has promoted the ability of local government departments to improve communication and innovation, and to improve the organization's ability to respond to disasters. At the same time, we also found that in the process of disaster response, local governments have greater pressure to reduce disaster losses. Local governments have been fighting for early warnings to get more time to reduce losses, but they have also increased risk mitigation costs.

The Dynamics of an Interorganizational Emergency Management Network: Interdependent and Independent Risk Hypotheses

AbstractThe purpose of this research is to uncover the dynamic structure of an interorganizational emergency management network after a disaster. This research tests two hypothesized network structures: interdependent risk and independent risk. While the former illustrates the importance of trust and information redundancy in coordinating and aligning emergency preparedness and response, the latter captures the tendency for local actors to seek dominant partners to bridge crucial information across the region. A stochastic actor‐based model with a forward selection strategy is used to analyze the structural effects of endogenous networks and the effects of exogenous community attributes on interorganizational ties. Based on the data sets collected before and after the 2012 typhoons in South Korea, the results support the interdependent risk hypothesis, suggesting that an interorganizational network structure tends to evolve into the notion of shared collaboration risk.

Dynamics of Interorganizational Public Health Emergency Management Networks: Following the 2015 MERS Response in South Korea.

We investigated public health emergency management networks during the recent outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus that affected more than 17 000 people in South Korea. We administered a survey to 169 organizations in order to map the pattern of communication and response networks during the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak. We also conducted 11 semistructured interviews with national, regional, and local government officials to comprehend inhibiting and facilitating factors in risk communication and response to the system. National ministries or agencies play central roles in coordinating and supporting the overall response, and local and regional governments or agencies interact with other governments and agencies. Governmental agencies coordinating and/or supporting the outbreak response had difficulties in communicating with other agencies because of the ambiguity of the nature of the infectious disease, slow information disclosure, differences in the organizational priorities, different information standards, and the limitations of the information system. To better respond to a virus outbreak, government agencies need to improve hierarchical communication among different levels of governments, horizontal communication and cooperation between same types or different types of agencies, and information systems.