A crisis occurs when there is a perception of an urgent threat to safety. A crisis often occurs suddenly and results in the need to make decisions rapidly to reduce and/or eliminate the harmful effects of the crisis. When and where a crisis will occur and how persons are affected is unpredictable and will impact efforts to organize crisis management structure. Crisis management pertains to the strategic protective actions taken within a community to prepare for, respond to, or recover from the occurrence of a crisis.

Unfortunately, decisions during a crisis often occur within an environment where issues are ill-defined and data is erroneous, incomplete, or unavailable, and increased negative ramifications associated with poor decisions are likely. Despite the challenges, communities expect proficiency in crisis management ...