Coordination of Civil and Military Forces in Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review

We are bearing witness to the daily occurrence of natural disasters in various parts of the world. Considering the extensive presence of military forces for assistance and establishment of security in disaster-stricken regions, the importance of coordination between civil and military forces becomes clearer. The present study used a systematic review method to extract the factors influencing the enhancement of the military-civil forces’ coordination in natural disasters in various countries around the globe.

A systematic search was made in PubMed, Cochran Library, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and ProQuest between January 1970 and December 31, 2020. Articles were selected by the authors based on the search keywords including the three dimensions of "coordination", "disasters" and "military-civilian". The articles were selected based on keywords by the author. In the end, the factors influencing coordination were selected from the articles.

After studying the titles, abstracts, and texts of all articles, 15 of them were selected for final analysis. There were 2 qualitative articles, 3 quantitative articles, 1 lesson learned article, 5 mix-method studies and 4 review articles. The most frequent factors in terms of repetition were information management (sharing and newness), planning, unit commanding, instruction, and communication. Analyzing the articles, there were two main approaches to disaster management in the world, which include the parallel and sequential coordination approach.

The results obtained from this systematic review provided an overview of the factors influencing civil-military forces’ coordination during natural disasters. Each of the factors was envisioned as a chain loop that caused more coordination in responding to disasters. Overall, all organizations involved in disaster management should play a role in codification of crisis management policies of every country, so that the important aspects and issues can be taken into account.