Escalating crisis and lagged response: perspectives from the Mumbai terrorist attack

Abstract

The 26/11 Mumbai terrorists attack in 2008 offers rich ground for analysis from the perspective of crisis management and can help in evolving frameworks for further analysis. The analysis of the path of crisis has pointed the inadequacies in the existing literature on crisis management. Existing literature on crisis management discusses natural crises such as Mann Gulch or Tsunami; or industrial crises such as Bhopal Gas Tragedy or Three Mile Island. The Mumbai crisis had different characteristics and was like a chess game where the opening position was no doubt a surprise, but the opponents kept changing positions subsequently according to exigencies. The initial response; the path of the crisis and its build up; and its final closure provide excellent ground for rich analysis in understanding crisis management and the gaps in the existing frameworks. The crisis management is discussed in terms of the framework of timeline of 'event' and severity of consequences. These axes are being expanded to what can be called as 'space of the event' and 'impact value'. The dimensions of space are location, timeliness, triggers, and duration. The dimensions of impact value are human value, direct damages, collateral damages, economic damage, perceived loss by the society, and perceived risk of similar future attacks.