Network Disaster Response Effectiveness: The Case of ICTs and Hurricane Katrina

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Abstract
This article assesses how information and communication technologies (ICTs) hindered the effectiveness of public sector organizational networks in the City of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The analysis examines three disaster response networks responsible for disaster planning and preparedness whose primary tasks focused on evacuation, shelter, first response, and public protection. The temporal period under discussion is the immediate days prior to and after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Friday, August 26, 2005 to Sunday, September 4, 2005. We discuss the status of policies instituted by the federal government, the status of local disaster planning in New Orleans, the theoretical underpinnings and empirical research on communication, ICTs, and the role of organizational networks in public administration, and summarize findings from the small corpus of research on organizational network effectiveness during and after Hurricane Katrina. Our study relies on grounded theory to document how failures of technology, communication, information sharing, and management contributed to reducing organizational network effectiveness and discusses some of the reasons for network failure during the response to Hurricane Katrina. We focus on the need for critical resources and structural conditions that prevented local organizational networks from operating effectively and efficiently. We conclude with an analysis of the continuing relevance of Hurricane Katrina by comparing events that took place following Hurricane Sandy and with series of recommendations for assessing the probability of future disasters including use of a different theoretical framework, social-ecological system thinking; a commitment to and investment in metrics, indicators, and data to measure progress towards resilience; significant investments to harden and redesign key infrastructure; and the adoption of an international perspective to inform national policies and practices.

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