Please choose your delivery country and your customer group
Historically, response to catastrophic events has failed to reestablish communications rapidly, resulting in an extension of the chaotic response phase. Communication is not simply a support service but an independent strategic imperative within the crisis response system. Current domestic crisis management acknowledges that a communications system is indispensable yet continues to prioritize and utilize communications as a support function. This thesis considers the centrality of the communications system binding complex emerging systems. The goal for crisis response is also to stabilize disrupted and interrelated systems that define a modern society. A communications system is the key element that allows systems to self-organize, adapt, and exert control over the chaos. Defining the role of communications requires an understanding of complexity, chaos, systems, and network evolution. There is a need to change crisis response organizations to reflect a modern understanding of the changing technical environment, and the foundational function communications serves in linking dynamic complex systems. This thesis also identifies the forces unleashed in the aftermath of a catastrophic event and illustrates how the rapid restoration of communications is required for successful crisis response.