  In an increasingly complex, mobile and interconnected world, we face growing
threats of disasters, whether by chance or deliberately. Disruption of
coordinated response and recovery efforts due to organizational, technical,
procedural, random or deliberate attack could result in the risk of massive
loss of life. This requires urgent action to explore the development of optimal
information-sharing environments for promoting collective disaster response and
preparedness using multijurisdictional hierarchical networks. Innovative
approaches to information flow modeling and analysis for dealing with
challenges of coordinating across multi layered agency structures as well as
development of early warnings through social systems using social media
analytics may be pivotal to timely responses to dealing with large scale
disasters where response strategies need to be viewed as a shared
responsibility. How do facilitate the development of collective disaster
response in a multijurisdictional setting? How do we develop and test the level
and effectiveness of shared multijurisdictional hierarchical networks for
improved preparedness and response? What is the role of multi layered training
and exercises in building the shared learning space for collective disaster
preparedness and response? The aim of this is therefore to determine factors
that may be responsible for affecting disaster response.
