Facing the “During” phase in crisis management: An incremental adaptive launching process

The increasing number of disasters of natural and technological origin represents a significant challenge for countries and organisations globally. Scholars complain about the lack of models and guidelines to navigate the ‘during’ phase of disaster management, particularly in the contexts of crises characterised by unprecedented or unclear demands. This paper retrospectively analyses the case of an urban shoring-up by the Italian National Fire Department in the wake of the L'Aquila earthquake in 2009. Despite the situation's unprecedented demands and extreme complexity, this case is viewed as one of the most effective responses in the history of crisis management in Italy. Empirical evidence collected from interviews and documents was used to formulate a process framework that could help guide a response to crises rapidly and effectively: the Timing Response to a crisis by Incremental Adaptive Launching (TRIAL) process. The process outlines how context assessment and response planning and execution can be developed, how key factors – contextualisation, creativity and improvisation – interact during the response and what skills are needed to find and develop an effective response during crises. Taking into account the results obtained in its first applications, strengths and limitations of the TRIAL process are also identified in the paper.