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Examining collaborative disaster response in China: network perspectives

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Abstract

Effective disaster response requires well-coordinated efforts among individuals and agencies. Although collaborative disaster response increases in popularity, little has been accomplished within the hierarchical, centralized command and control context of China. This study examined collaborative disaster response in China based on the case of extraordinary serious cryogenic freezing rain and snow disaster. In addition, public managers were surveyed to investigate network establishment, with preliminary analysis on whole network using centrality measures. Subsequently, the blockmodel was employed to discuss the whole network structure followed by analysis on structural holes and intermediaries. Lastly, issues such as obstacles to effective collaboration and propositions proposed for further research were discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The research was sponsored by Chinese Major Project of National Social Sciences Fund (No. 11&ZD034). We thank editors and anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Xuesong Guo

  2. School of Public Administration, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Naim Kapucu

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  1. Xuesong Guo
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  2. Naim Kapucu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naim Kapucu.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Adjacency matrix
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Guo, X., Kapucu, N. Examining collaborative disaster response in China: network perspectives. Nat Hazards 79, 1773–1789 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1925-1

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