A Network Interdiction Perspective for Providing Emergency Communications: An Analysis for Promoting Resiliency Subject to Resource Constraints and Security Concerns

Disasters, whether natural or manmade, and other types of emergencies create the need for immediate and secure communications between and among the affected populace, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other types of emergency responders. It is through these communications that the affected populace is able to show resilient behavior, both psychologically and economically. A network interdiction model is proposed that can be utilized to create a more reliable design for such a communications network against the motives of would-be attackers whose aim it is to disrupt emergency communications and inflict damage on the affected populace. The contribution of this work is the application of the network interdiction modeling framework to an emergency communication scenario.