Integrating Information Technology into International Crisis Management and Policy

Decision processes in disaster environments pose a special challenge to rational problem solving. The urgency, complexity and uncertainty of disaster environments test the limits of human capacity for seeking, processing and disseminating information to support coordinated action. Current information technology offers a means of extending human problem solving capacity through an interactive, intelligent, spatial information system, if it is supported by a parallel organizational system designed to facilitate coordinated action. A preliminary model of organizational problem solving is proposed, focusing on the global problem of seismic risk. The model relies on the function of information technology to reduce uncertainty by increasing the timeliness and accuracy of information to disaster managers, thereby improving coordination in organizational performance. The model links information technology to organizational structure in ways that create feedback channels, improve organizational learning and increase capacity to correct organizational mistakes. The model is presented in terms of structuring technical and organizational conditions to support improved capacity for organizational problem solving in communities vulnerable to seismic risk. Illustrative data from a series of seven earthquake disasters demonstrate an evolving receptiveness to the integration of information technology into international crisis policy and practice.