Decision-Making and Response in Emergency Situations

It is not just the rapidity of decision-making that determines the effectiveness of response to emergency (or disaster) situations., far from it. Two related factors are just as important, if not more so. These are: (a) the ready availability of response resources (skilled responders and materiel, as a minimum); and, (b) the speed, as well as the logistical robustness and flexibility, with which the responders and the materiel can be mobilized and delivered. In the absence of the said resources and logistical capability, rapid decision-making systems will appear out of place and ineffectual..