Communication and coordination in the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquakes

Abstract

The interaction between communication and coordination is central to mobilizing response operations, but the processes vary under critical time constraints, creating disparities in complex operations in practice. To explore conditions that facilitate or hinder the interaction between these processes, we identify networks of organizations engaged in communication and coordination that functioned in response to the 6 February 2023, Kahramanmaras earthquakes in Turkey. Framed in the theory of complex adaptive systems, this study focuses on decision-making among organizations that operated during this event and the flow of information within and among organizations that guided collective action. Using exploratory case-study methods, we undertook four tasks to: (1) characterize the context in which the earthquakes occurred—public awareness, policies, and practice to reduce seismic risk; (2) identify technical communication networks that functioned during the first 3 weeks of response operations; (3) identify organizational coordination networks and flow of information that guided technical networks, including principal nodes of connection and missing links in the process; and (4) identify gaps between knowledge and action as organizations struggled to operate in a disaster-degraded context. Study findings revealed limits in both technical and organizational networks and offer insights into how these sociotechnical networks could be scaled and strengthened to function more effectively in large-scale, extreme events.