In the 15 years since Kobe’s Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, awareness is growing that simply gathering information may not be enough for preparing systems, executing emergency responses, and making decisions rapidly and precisely. The question has become how – and whether – emergency response information can be used effectively and efficiently for rapid disaster response, recovery, and rebuilding. We analyzed emergency response decision making from the perspective of information processing, looking for the features organizations need to process information efficiently. We also propose how to continuously improve emergency response performance.

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