Coordination and Communication among Multiple Agencies in Response to Natural Disasters: An Illustrative Study

Abstract

A number of geographical areas within Australia are subject to frequent and significant natural disasters such as cyclones and flooding. Such events impact individuals and businesses directly and indirectly through the disruption of the routine movement of goods, services and people. The importance of identifying core challenges in the management of transport networks has been highly recognized by state and local governments. In Queensland, the responses to natural disasters involve the efforts from a number of agencies, including local city councils, local disaster management group, emergency services, police services, health/ambulance, and transport authorities, under the coordination of local disaster coordination centre. In this research, we look at the coordination and communication (C&C) among multiple agencies in response to natural disasters. Two organizational C&C mechanisms are evaluated based on the functional resonance analysis method by assuming several representative hypothetical scenarios. The applicability of the two mechanisms is also discussed accordingly.