Emergent Coordination in the World Trade Center Disaster

In this paper, we investigate coordination within responder radio communications during the World Trade Center disaster. Using a network analytic approach, we identify agents who exhibit high levels of coordinative activity. Agents are further classified by whether they appear to occupy formal roles whose responsibilities include coordination of communication, and by whether the agents belong to organizations whose mission includes emergency response. We find that, regardless of organizational type, the great majority of coordinators are emergent (i.e., do not occupy formal coordinative roles). At the same time, where agents with formal coordinative roles are present, they are substantially more likely to become actual coordinators. Uniformity of effects across organizational types suggests that emergent coordination in crisis situations is not strongly contingent on responder training or organizational structure.