Network Governance for Coordinated Disaster Response

The paper addresses the important role of interorganizational coordination and network governance in implementing disaster response policies facing complex environments of emergencies and crises. The paper analyzes the National Response Framework (NRF) in the U.S. and its role in disaster response coordination. A network perspective is utilized to understand functional coordination based on the emergency support functions (ESFs), and to evaluate the role of the NRF in coordinating disaster response at the federal level. Based on the roles and coordination structures defined by the ESFs, interorganizational networks and affiliation networks are presented in the paper. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper illustrates how the ESFs, especially ESF #7 - Logistics and ESF #8 - Public Health and Medical Services, operated in response to the crisis.