Civil emergency management is discussed when more than one aid organisation is involved in solving an emergency problem. This paper analyses interagency cooperation, decision-making and leadership in the planning stages as well as during emergencies and disasters. Specific deficiencies about information exchange and interagency staff work are identified. The authors describe shared or parallel information processing and network enabled procedures between all involved emergency management organisations for supporting decisions made under time constraints, and point out the need for open source software strategies to maximise use, also involving small, voluntary NGOs. Finally, further research and development is called upon towards realising the aforementioned concepts for decision-making support. R