Indecision in Emergency Situation: The Absence of Technology or Intuition? A Study of September 30, 2009 Earthquake in Padang
- DOI
- 10.2991/aebmr.k.200301.006How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- bureaucratic inertia, indecision, natural disaster, public distrust, recognition-primed decision
- Abstract
An Actor’s cognitive ability has become a major requirement in making decisions during a state of emergency. Either collapsed infrastructure or the disappearance of emergency personnel often delays an effective response which could result in indecisive action. This paper examines how indecision occurred in the September 30, 2009 tsunamigenic earthquake in Padang by employing a phenomenological interpretive approach. Data were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with emergency managers as well as reviewing public documents. The findings show that relevant actors’ lack of experience concerning situational awareness and mental simulation had inhibited their efforts in applying intuitive strategy. Furthermore, the ambiguous actions taken were also driven by bureaucratic procedures and limited resources, which hampered innovation and adaptation in facing an escalating situation. At the same time, the actors had to deal with public distrust if the decisions were to be made without sufficient information or declared by an unexpected actor. Finally, the government had missed a most crucial time –the golden time –and let vulnerable people make their own choices.
- Copyright
- © 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Siska Sasmita AU - Bevaola Kusumasari AU - Agus Pramusinto AU - Ely Susanto PY - 2020 DA - 2020/03/04 TI - Indecision in Emergency Situation: The Absence of Technology or Intuition? A Study of September 30, 2009 Earthquake in Padang BT - Proceedings of the Annual Conference of Indonesian Association for Public Administration (IAPA 2019) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 100 EP - 119 SN - 2352-5428 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.200301.006 DO - 10.2991/aebmr.k.200301.006 ID - Sasmita2020 ER -