This report presents findings from a quick response study of communication and coordination networks functioning in response to the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaras Earthquakes in Turkey. Communication and coordination are central to mobilizing response operations under critical time constraints. Framed within the literature of complex adaptive systems, this study focused on decision-making among interacting organizations that operated during this event and the flow of information within and among organizations that guides collective action. Using exploratory case study methods, this report addresses four basic tasks to: (1) characterize the context in which the earthquakes occurred, including public awareness, policies, and practices to reduce seismic risk; (2) identify technical communications networks that functioned during the first three weeks of response operations, including principal nodes of connection and missing links in the process; (3) identify organizational coordination networks and information used to guide technical disaster operations networks; and (4) identify gaps in technical and organizational networks as responding organizations struggled to operate in a disaster-degraded context. Defining the limits of both technical and organizational networks operating under extreme conditions is critical to understanding how these networked systems—technical and organizational—can be scaled and strengthened to function more effectively in large-scale, extreme events. The international research team also provides an update on field research needs to the Social Science Extreme Events Research community based on onsite observations.
