Most organizations face difficult challenges in managing knowledge for crisis response, particularly in the context of emergency search and rescue (ESAR) initiatives. It is crucial for response effectiveness that such challenges be overcome. Organizational members and numerous stakeholders must share the knowledge needed to plan for such eventualities. They also must be able during a crisis to access relevant plans and communicate about their responses to it. This paper examines the role and relevance of knowledge management ideals (using an ontology based approach) in support of crisis response, in general, and ESAR, in particular
