Communication Channels among the various roles during Crisis Response

During a disaster event there are many actors, some officially, others unofficially involved in the event. This paper explores the relationships between these individuals and between them and the activities performed during the response time. We claim that understand the roles and these relationships is an important starting point for developing information systems for response management. Many systems focus on the supporting activities played by these roles and not on the communication channels that enable a better understanding of the system requirements. This article describes a preliminary study towards this goal.