COORDINATION, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
All four concepts of this study are crucial in creating and sustaining effective emergency management. This study proposes the integration of intergovernmental coordination and information technology with a strong foundation of organizational adaptive capacity in dealing with crises and complex changes. This integration will need the official collaboration of both national and local response units. Emergency situations are dynamic and the sequential effects are uncertain. The devastation can expand to a larger scale of the area which affects more of the population. Sometimes a state of emergency is declared across jurisdictions. It is clear that many directly authorized emergency response departments are out in the field. It is sometimes difficult to define where the authority and responsibility lie in the multi-agency work. In order to effectively coordinate multiple emergency agencies performing multiple tasks in multiple areas under time constraint and threats to lives, emergency response operations require efficient communication channels and equipment to keep all emergency personnel connected and updated.
learning and training programs. Mutual understanding and clear direction of how emergency response and disaster management are conducted help multiple agencies to coordinate and compensate each other in case failure occurs among them effectively.
An intergovernmental network approach seeks to find an appropriate level of authority through the management of interagency emergency operations not only to prepare them to work together, but also to balance command-control and decentralization. Ironically, the idea of decentralization and empowerment of local authorities is the underlying value of giving the local governments the authority to control their emergency operations. Bangkok government will at best be able to control its resources and operations. A long history of bureaucratic culture makes the system vulnerable to change especially switching between rowing and steering. Government agencies have been trying to implement concepts of decentralization, street-level participation and citizen empowerment instead of command and control of centralization. Public agencies may still organize their work and responsibility using command and control techniques, especially under heavy pressure and urgent time constraints. Emergency operations are at their best strategic implementation, if the collaboration can be well structured. Since, emergency management is uncertain, strengthening response operations by having them support one another effectively is in the best interest of the affected population and rescue agencies.
Comfort’s model of four types of adaptation in emergency response systems identifies a set of components needed for developing emergency response systems. The four types ranged from non-adaptive or emergent adaptive systems to an auto-adaptive system or self organization. This study uses Comfort’s model to analyze the existing emergency model in Thailand. This study applies three crucial indicators, which are technical structure, organizational flexibility, and cultural openness, to identify the type of emergency management at each level.
At the national level, emergency response agencies confronted the devastation of the tsunami with a low level of technical structure, organizational flexibility, and cultural openness which this study defines as a non-adaptive system. Bangkok Metropolitan Authority’s emergency response agencies conduct their emergency operations with higher levels of performance on the three components to illustrate an emergent adaptive system. This study examines the factors needed to improve the existing emergency management systems of national provincial and local levels from states of non-adaptive and emergent-adaptive to auto-adaptive. Such adaptive capacity and systems will be analyzed from two perspectives First, the study reviews the performance of an individual emergency agency and examines what factors affected its performance and its effectiveness in the emergency response system. Secondly, this study focuses on coordination among the emergency agencies, exploring a cooperative emergency response. Since managing states of emergency require multiple agencies to perform multiple tasks, the understanding of emergency management needs to take into account the interagency management accordingly. This study approaches an auto-adaptive emergency response system with a concept of intergovernmental management to collaborate emergency systems of both national and local levels for an entire country.
Effective intergovernmental networks and interagency coordination cannot function without the strong link created by effective information technology and communication system.
Decision-making, under pressure of time constraints and threats to life, needs sufficient information to support participating agencies to make more accurate decisions. The knowledge, data, and information need to be integrated into a systematic database to share among all participating agencies and the public when necessary. The best information cannot serve organizations at the highest capacity without a good communication system and management. A
communications system is crucial in facilitating the information flow among participating agencies and the public to keep all operations connected. Under a wide spread of devastation and disaster impacts, geographical distance and destruction make access to communications difficult, hindering cooperative emergency operations. Multiple tasks performed by multiple agencies also increase the complexity involved in following up each unit and monitoring the entire operation.
In extreme cases, the electrical system fails when the entire power grid or electrical utilities black-out. For example, the recent tsunami disaster caused the loss of the entire electrical system in PhangNga area which created great difficulty for emergency operations. All participating agencies, in wide area operation, cannot physically see one another due to the distance and chaos of the situation. Communication channels need to be well structured and be designed with the knowledge that many communication stations can be destroyed and damaged, despite the fact that electricity is crucial for a communication system to work. This study explores alternative back-up methods for information and communication systems in extreme events. All agencies on duty confront such unexpected difficulties. States of emergency need effective interagency operations and such operations require sufficient information technology and efficient communications systems.
In addition to effective intergovernmental coordination and efficient information and communication management, this study also reviews community networks. Local residents are frontline emergency response personnel, if they are well-trained because they are closer to the incident and have more experience in the area. Their informed response to states of emergency can mitigate damage and reduce levels of severity, buying time for emergency personnel with more advanced equipment to arrive and operate. Community representatives and volunteers are also trusted by local residents. Evacuation and emergency regulations can be directed effectively
by the assistance of these groups. In addition, the knowledge of members of communities will later help communicating feedback of search and rescue to the command center to avoid redundancy and repetition of emergency response that waste manpower and resources.
Community networks also help connect small areas together without spending more resources to manage more complicated geographical operations. In employing effective networks, communities learn about potential risks they may confront as well as emergency procedures, creating resilient communities. In the chaos of extreme events, people tend to have less systematic decision making processes. Informed decisions require basic understanding and adaptive capacity to adapt to different situations and unexpected consequences. Information that emergency personnel shared through their database management and communication systems should be made available to general public to educate them regarding their exposure to disaster risk. Simulated operations exercises serve as an effective tool to enable emergency response personnel and communities to learn about emergency operations and to build trust with one another.
The integration of all networks of interagency coordination, information and communication create resilient communities that develop a constructive learning environment and adaptive capacity to enable all participants to maintain the levels of competency needed to deal with an extreme event. Training programs and education tools can be developed internally within a single agency as well as cooperatively among multiple agencies. Disaster is dynamic and less predictable. Emergency response personnel and communities exposed to risks need to adapt and be willing to learn new alternatives in addition to applying their previous knowledge.
Adaptive capacity means continual updating and improving.
2.6 SUMMARY
Public safety is concerned with how emergency response is managed and how emergency personnel operate. Effective emergency response can help save lives and property. Disaster and emergency are complex and less predictable by their nature. Emergency response and management need to be flexible and have a high level of adaptive capacity to be able to manage the situation to return to normal. This study builds its conceptual model how emergency response and management should be operated on the notions of four significant concepts of Complex Adaptive System (CAS), Intergovernmental Coordination, Social Network, and Information sharing and Communication Managements. Previous studies have shown that emergency response systems increase their capacity to make informed decisions and cope with disaster situations more effectively when they have access to efficient communication channels.
In practice, emergency operations are implemented among different communities in which local residents necessarily become frontline emergency personnel. This study emphasizes the need for community participation in emergency management. The local knowledge of community residents helps to construct an appropriate emergency response for each area. In wide area operations, community networks can also help facilitate resources and connect the entire response system together. In order to encourage communities to work together and with public emergency personnel, values of self organization and adaptive capacity need to be strengthened.
This study proposes that a model of auto-adaptation can improve the delivery of emergency services and reduce disaster risk.