A Multiscale Review of Emergency Collaboration Across Natural Hazards

Abstract

Emergency collaboration under natural hazards depends on how hazard processes, exposed systems, and institutional arrangements interact across places, organizations, time horizons, and operational tasks. Existing research examines territorial cooperation, organizational networks, response phases, and task coordination, but these strands often rely on different units of analysis, limiting comparison across hazard contexts. This review develops an action-centered multiscale framework across four analytical dimensions: spatial, organizational, temporal, and task scales. Cross-hazard synthesis examines four recurrent collaborative problems: task reorganization, warning-to-action translation, sustained collaboration, and dynamic cross-boundary collaboration. The comparison shows that task relationships may change while overall organizational structures remain relatively stable; warning information becomes actionable when professional interpretation, authority, and operational windows align with protective tasks; sustained collaboration requires viable support and commitment arrangements alongside organizations’ continuing responsibilities; and cross-boundary response may require adjustments in timing, resource support, or decision authority without necessarily expanding formal participation. Boundary spanning, situational interpretation, coupling tasks with operational support, and feedback and adjustment explain how these configurations are supported, maintained, or revised. The framework provides a comparative research agenda and clarifies institutional conditions relevant to disaster resilience and essential-service continuity without assuming a universal organizational model or causal sequence.