“What should we do?” The after-action review of village heads’ information seeking and decision making during the unprecedented Kaohsiung blast

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine village heads’ information seeking and decision making in 2014 Kaohsiung Blast and to analyze if the current disaster trainings help those leaders to enhance disaster risk deduction in an unprecedented disaster. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts after-action review and information seeking and decision making literature both from communication research and disaster research. Document analysis, and in-depth interviews with 13 village heads, 1 district officer, and 15 residents from the affected areas are conducted. Findings This study finds that the village heads have received trainings of regular types of disasters; however, most of them act like lay people in Kaohsiung Blast. In the beginning of the gas leaking, village heads slack off when first respondents arrive. After the Blast, most of them wait for authority orders and cannot launch minimum self-help and community help which they learned from the trainings. Practical implications This study confirms that the leadership research should take different categories and levels of leaders into consideration to distinguish public leaders from non-public leaders, professional disaster risk reduction leaders from non-professional leaders, and higher authorities from basic levels of government. The findings from this study provide a basis for the rational design of the job descriptions of village leaders. Originality/value This study is the first empirical research to investigate first-level but non-professional disaster management staffs’ information seeking and decision making after an unprecedented disaster in Taiwan.

Sensemaking questions in crisis response teams

“…The police officers in this case were torn between a self-perception as violence-avoiding cops and violence-ready firearm officers, leaving them in confusion with regard to how to see themselves as well as the suspect, eventually leading them to shoot and kill an innocent person (Colville et al, 2013). In an analysis of the Kaohsiung gas explosions, lastly, Hsu (2017) reports that several village heads failed to take appropriate action, regardless of having been granted a formal role and receiving considerable information that a crisis was taking place. These village heads did not develop the professional identity accompanying their formal roles, and instead behaved like "orphans" waiting for governmental support.…”

“…Thus, it may not be representative for crisis sensemaking in other countries, which may, for instance, have a political culture that promotes dependence of crisis responders instead (cf. Hsu, 2017). In general, additional research into crisis sensemaking will support responders in their work and ultimately benefit crisis management practices.…”

Organizational and legal mechanism of bio-medical emergencies management

“…Naiwen et al (2017), studied the achievement of the emergency after-effects control based on models and methods to reduce the dimensional field of complex security systems, including those involved in the response to biomedical emergencies. Hsu (2017), conducted a comparative analysis of disaster prevention and response systems, including biomedical hazard prevention measures in China, the United States, and the EU. The implication of the organizational and legal mechanisms of emergencies management is outlined in the works of Strikha et al (2021), andArabadzhyiev et al (2020).…”

“…The work of Calderon & Johnson (2017), focuses on the multifactor model formation of a large-scale emergency safety system, with the advantage of considering several factors characteristic of human-machine chain interaction in its final operation. Hsu (2017), emphasizes the special role of communication mechanisms and preventive public awareness methods to prevent the spread of the dengue epidemic. Liu et al (2017), the paper investigated the dynamics of quality and population indicators and the dynamics of epidemic emergencies.…”

“…Previous studies have summarized and systematized the theoretical and methodological provisions that give decision-making the nature of the science-based process and investigated the fundamental models of science-based management in social systems (Naiwen et al, 2017); the issues of ensuring rational decisionmaking by public authorities on the deployment of civil protection forces and means by improving information support (Hsu, 2017;Primadewi & Biomi, 2021); proposed scientific and methodological mechanism for choosing the most rational decision on the deployment of civil protection forces and means (Calderon & Johnson, 2017); criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of public management in an emergency situation (Ouyang et al, 2017); considered the organization of management in an emergency situation; studied the work process and content of the emergency prevention and coping system head; proposed a management process model for protection system of bio-medical emergencies (Gur'ev et al, 2020;Ermatov & Abdulkhakov, 2021).…”