The challenge comes after the report details the long list of tragedies last year's deadly hurricane wrought, including more than 1,330 deaths and US$96 billion in property damage. In terms of communications, 38 centers that normally handled 911 calls failed, while 3 million customers lost phone service.

The report urges a wide variety of players to build this new culture, including myriad federal agencies and tens of thousands of state and local emergency first responder agencies. And it calls on private citizens and the private sector to take part.

A small start toward addressing that challenge involves 10 major technology companies, including Intel Corp., Avaya Inc., Microsoft Corp., Dell Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and IBM. The group will meet next Thursday at a CIO summit to act as a sort of 'high-tech National Guard' to start developing contingency plans designed to provide greater call center capacity for the next disaster, said Thomas Lesica, group vice president for global technology and operations at Avaya. After Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last August, the industry group -- at the behest of the American Red Cross -- hustled to add call center capacity to help hurricane survivors contact their families. Each of the major technology companies taking part in next week's summit could set up contingency plans to offer perhaps 100 call center seats from each of their corporate call centers, Lesica said.

James Flyzik, chairman of the homeland security committee for the Information Technology Association of America, said that with about 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure in the hands of the private sector, such efforts -- and more -- are important.

'We need to put all the manufacturers in a room and take off the parochial gloves,' Flyzik said. 'We have to get away from special interests.'