Disaster Management and the Inter-Organizational Imperative: The Hong Kong Disaster Plan

While rapid economic development in East Asia has led to affluent societies, progress in the area of disaster management has lagged. Several recent disasters in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea indicate that it is necessary to devise comprehensive plans for disaster management in the region. A review of disaster plans in general and the Hong Kong Disaster Plan (HKDP) in particular reveals a number of weaknesses in such endeavors from the organizational point of view. This paper argues that disaster management plans have usually been unable to provide an adequate framework due to the unique nature of decision-making, communication, and coordination under extraordinary circumstances. The issue of inter-organizational cooperation could be dealt with by using small task-based groups and involving nongovernmental organizations, so as to take advantage of their flexible structure and diverse expertise in complementing public agency efforts in disaster management.