NIMS does include a unified approach to incident management and incorporates standard command and management structures and aids coordination, it has certain limitations. For example, NIMS is a technical system that can function effectively when its goals in a particular situation are consistent, clearly prioritized and coherent. However, when situations present complex value conflicts or trade-offs, NIMS lacks the ability to make politically legitimate decisions and to mobilize ^{Increased time} pressure public support for sub- ^{and urgency} sequent action [ 6].

Effective coordination is an essential ingredient for ERM. The coordination of emergency response is demanding as it involves requirements typical of an emergency _{Disruption of} situation that include, for^{infrastructure} _support example, high uncertainty and necessity for rapid decision making ^{Multi-authority} _{and massive} and response under tem- ^people _involvement poral and resource constraints. Yet, the available literature on coordination issues relating to ERM consists largely of _{High demand} practitioner articles, gov- ^{for timely} _information ernmental reports, and testimonies to Congress. Academic research in this area, other than [ 2, 3, 8, 11], is scarce. Given the importance of ERM coordination, this area needs to be studied in greater detail. In this article, we propose a framework to analyze emergency response coordination patterns, based primarily on semi-structured interviews with 32 emergency response personnel, including town, city, county, and state emergency managers and Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA) coordinators. We also illustrate the usefulness of the framework by applying it to an actual incident.

pressure and urgency; severe resource shortages; large-scale impact and damage; and the disruption of infrastructure support necessary for coordination like electricity, telecommunications, and transportation. This is complicated by factors such as infrastructure interdependencies; multi-authority and massive personal involvement; conflict of interest; and the high demand for timely information. Table 1 elaborates some of these issues based on our conversations with emergency responders.

Challenges Coordination Support Activities

High uncertainty, - Real-time monitoring and timely alert notification for situation awareness sudden and - Improvisation and rapid adaptation of predefined plans to the scenario unexpected events - Periodic evaluation and update on existing coordination practices

Risk and possible - Threat, vulnerability, and risk assessment and countermeasure mass casualty - Risk-sharing policy among parties involved

- Operational sustainability management

- Repository of related plans, procedures, policies

- Knowledge base and network of internal and external experts - Efficient information and intelligence mining; knowledge elicitation - Decision support technologies

- Psychological fortitude to deal with effect and behavior

Severe resource - Policies (such as priority list and access control) for resource use and shortage requisition

- Logistic management and resource-sharing network across local, national, and international levels

- Self-equipped response teams

- Law and order, price control mechanism management

Large-scale impact - Joint effort of governmental, public, and private sectors across local, and damage national, and international boundaries

- Broad information-, intelligence-, and resource-sharing networks - An integrated public communication network to inform, guide, and reassure the general public

- Protection of critical infrastructures

- Performance monitoring of built structures

- Planning for infrastructure interdependencies such as proximity of foliage and civil infrastructure

- Control of infrastructure redundancy

- Management of alternative infrastructures

- Unified response command for coordination

- Establishment of role structures with corresponding authority, responsibility, and accountability

- Management of power and regulation conflict - Exercise of leadership and norms

- Communication operability and interoperability

Conflict of - Understand the political, ethnic, economic, and environmental impact Interest - Shared vision and alignment of core interests

- Reconcile the objectives of various involved parties in a politically sensitive and emotionally charged environment

- Shared vision of priority among responders and the public

- Information gathering and provisioning

- Information fusion and validation

- Information exploitation and dissemination

Table 1. ERM coordination at a glance.

COORDINATION IN ERM

The coordination of emergency response is challenging because it involves factoring in exigencies typical of an emergency situation such as great uncertainty; sudden and unexpected events; the risk of possible mass casualty; high amounts of time

LIFE CYCLE APPROACH A life cycle approach provides a broad and systematic view of the activities relating to emergency response management [ 12]. Therefore, the framework we suggest is adapted to each of the stages in the life cycle. The management of emergency response can be visualized in terms of three distinct sets of activities on the time line continuum [ 4]. These include actions taken prior to an incident (typically concerning preparedness issues such as planning and training), during the incident, and after the incident. The cycle is

completed when de-briefing has occurred and the lessons learned are framed as actionable items designed to affect future preparedness. Many of the core elements of ERM coordination (such as activities, coordination objects, and constraints) differ from stage to stage [ 12]. Cultural, political, regulatory, and infrastructural (civil structures, people, process, and technology) issues all have an impact on coordination patterns and outcomes. In Figure 1, we present the schema of the framework we developed, which represents not only a development of the work presented by Raghu et al. [ 9], but also a context modification of that work. The framework considers five basic elements that are applied to each stage of the life cycle: