attacked the World Trade.pdfVIP

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM April 2006/Vol. 49, No. 4 15 On Sept. 11, 2001, terroristsattacked the World TradeCenter, taking 2,749 lives. The attack resulted in severe eco- nomic impact, especially to air- lines, and a stock market loss of $1.2 trillion. On Dec. 26, 2004, a tsunami from a 9.1 earthquake overran the shores of many coun- tries along the vast rim of the Indian Ocean. Over 283,000 peo- ple died. On Aug. 29, 2005, Kat- rina, a category-5 hurricane, knocked out electric and commu- nication infrastructure over 90,000 square miles of Louisiana and Mississippi and displaced 1.5 million people. Six months later, New Orleans still housed fewer than 100,000 of its original 1.2 million residents. On Oct. 8, 2005, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake devastated the Kashmir region of Pakistan, killing over 87,000 peo- ple. Besides being unexpected major disasters, these events had one other common feature: they all involved hastily formed net- works that quickly mobilized, organized, and coordinated mas- sive humanitarian responses. The severity of these disasters drove home an important point: the quality of the response depended not on response plan- ning or on new equipment, but on the quality of the network that came together to provide relief. How quickly were voice and data communications restored? How well did the many players from disparate organiza- tions collaborate? How effectively did the network deliver help to the victims? These incidents demonstrated sharp differences in the quality of the hastily formed network (HFN), which directly affected the effectiveness of the response. Noting that these net- works almost always involve mili- tary, civilian government, and non-government organizations, the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security haveRO BE RT N EU BE C K ER The Profession of IT Peter J. Denning Hastily Formed Networks The ability to form multi-organizational networks rapidly is crucial to humanitarian aid, disaster relief, and large urgent pr