Public Administration Challenges in Disaster Responses: Issues

Abstract

Disaster management has become a major research issue in the field of public administration in recent years. The importance of disaster management research has to do with the increase of natural and man-made disasters and their influence and consequences in our societies. This symposium is designed to examine the relationship between public administration theories and disaster management issues to understand major public policy and managerial challenges. This introduction paper provides a review of theoretical background about contributions of public administration theories to disaster management. It introduces issues, cases, and findings from five articles included in the symposium. The paper concludes with discussions about the contributions of symposium articles and suggestions for future studies.