The evolution of collaborative networks towards more polycentric disaster responses between the 2015 and 2016 Myanmar floods

Disaster management processes include many organizations, and collaboration among them is important for effective disaster management. This study examines how changes in the regime between 2015 and 2016 influenced the patterns of collaborative tie formations among stakeholders, including the military, in the process of disaster response to the Myanmar floods. Changes in the positions and roles of the involved organizations are analysed by comparing the structures of networks over time using social network analysis. The overall networking structures for the disaster response also changed from military-centred in 2015 to multifocal and polycentric interactions in 2016. This study indicates that several disaster contextual factors, including the regime change in 2016, the resultant organizational restructuring of Myanmar's disaster management organizations and the different magnitudes of disaster between the two events, may be associated with such changes in the disaster response organizations' positions, roles, and patterns of interactions between the 2015 and 2016 flood management cases.