Coordination

Coordination in crisis and emergency management indicates the partnerships involving government, business, nonprofits, communities, and the public as a whole working toward mutual goals. Actually, interorganizational cooperation is a widely held ideal shared by many emergency agencies in many societies. Coordination is most likely to be achieved when organizations have pre-disaster connections, a willingness to work together to meet emergency management needs, and appropriate communication methods.

Multiorganizational coordination is essential for crisis and emergency management. Traditionally, individuals and local communities take the main role of disaster response because natural disasters are seen as the action of God. But disaster preparation and response is widely viewed as the appropriate role of government by most citizens in recent years. They expect the government, especially their local government, to take an active role in disaster and emergency management. As the emergency management department in the government is relatively small, and less powerful, a coordination and collaboration between different agencies is necessary for effective emergency response. Also, the nonroutine nature of disasters does not require a large number of full-time employees in an emergency management department, but once a major incident happens, a large amount of personnel and resources both inside [Page 173]and outside an emergency management department are needed and thus require multiorganizational coordination. What's more, the disruptive and dynamic nature of disasters—the negative effects of disaster always beyond the response capacity of local communities—also requires multiorganizational coordination. Finally, research evidence has proven that the command-and-control model for disaster management is flawed, and a coordination-and-collaboration model is more suitable for disaster and emergency response. Because no single department or agency has sufficient resources to deal with large-scale disaster at hand, a close working relationship and coordination among different organizations is necessary for effective and efficient disaster response, recovery, and prevention.

Most current disaster and emergency laws and policies require a multiagency coordination model. For example, in the United States, nearly all the emergency-related laws, like the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the Homeland Security Act, and the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, encourage a coordination work model—the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is required to work with state, tribal, and local governments; the private sector; and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to facilitate inclusive, multiagency, community-wide, and coordinated response and recovery effort.

In order to implement the coordination mission, several temporary or permanent organizations or positions are created. At the local level, the local emergency operation center (EOC) is the physical location where multiagency coordination occurs. The EOC can be a permanent or temporary organization directed by a full-time emergency manager or an appointed official. The state emergency operation center (SEOC) is the physical location where multiagency coordination happens at the state level. A joint information center (JIC) may be established to coordinate emergency information and other public affairs functions. The state coordinating officer (SCO) is the key person in charge of state response and recovery implementations after a disaster declaration. A joint field office (JFO) and unified coordination group (UCG) may be formed with officials from all related agencies, as well as representatives from nongovernmental organizations and the private sector. At the federal level, the National Operation Center (NOC) is the primary national hub for multiagency coordination across different federal agencies for emergency management. Unlike the EOCs at the state or local level, the National Operation Center is a continuously operating multiagency operation center.

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