Mass Evacuation

"When government officials become aware of an impending disaster, they may take steps to protect citizens before the incident occurs. Evacuation of the geographic area that may be affected is one option to ensure public safety. If implemented properly, evacuation can be an effective strategy for saving lives. Evacuations and decisions to evacuate, however, can also entail complex factors and elevated risks. Decisions to evacuate may require officials to balance potentially costly, hazardous, or unnecessary evacuations against the possibility of loss of life due to a delayed order to evacuate. Some observers of evacuations, notably those from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, claim evacuations pose unique challenges to certain segments of society. From their perspective, special-needs populations, the transit-dependent, and individuals with pets faced particular hardships associated with the storm. This, they claim, is because some evacuation plans, and the way in which they were carried out, appeared to inadequately address their unique circumstances or needs. […] While federal law provides for certain aspects of civilian emergency evacuation, evacuation policy generally is established and enforced by state and local officials. In recent years, Members of Congress have focused, in part, on policy options that addressed issues of equity during evacuations as well as attempts to integrate federal, state, and local evacuation efforts more fully. This report discusses federal evacuation policy and analyzes potential lessons learned from the evacuations of individuals in response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. Several issue areas that might arise concerning potential lawmaking and oversight on evacuation policy are also highlighted."

This hearing testimony is from the June 23, 2014 hearing on "Mass Gathering Security: A Look at the Coordinated Approach to Super Bowl XLVIII in New Jersey and Other Large Scale Events" held before the House Committee on Homeland Security. From the opening statement of Susan W. Brooks: "As the world looks on as millions gather in Brazil to watch the World Cup, the Subcommittee is meeting today to examine the security considerations necessary for mass gatherings. On February 2, 2014, Super Bowl 48 took place less than ten miles from where we are sitting today. That event, which was attended by more than 80,000 and watched around the world by more than 100 million people, is just one of the many large sporting events and gatherings that take place around the country each year. […] In preparation for Super Bowl XLVIII, DHS took the lead in coordinating federal efforts to assist the New Jersey State Police in security operations at MetLife Stadium and the surrounding areas, directing over 13 federal offices and agencies in a massive interagency partnership. This partnership included the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), FDA, and DoD, among others, all of which were essential in providing safety and security for travel to and from the stadium and security during the event. I am pleased that we are joined by a number of key stakeholders in those planning efforts today. Each of our witnesses has played a vital role in ensuring the safety and security of the public when they attend mass gatherings. I look forward to hearing their perspectives on their successes and challenges in planning for the Super Bowl and Indy 500, including best practices that can be used by those preparing for future mass gatherings." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Andrew McLees, Edward Cetnar, Louis Koumoutsos, John G. Centanni, Dan Grossi, Daniel DeLorenzi, J. Douglas Boles, and Fred S. Roberts.

This report details the assessment of local, State, and Federal plans for evacuations related to hurricanes and other catastrophic events in the Gulf Coast region. The assessment includes plans for moving people away from areas threatened by catastrophic events and providing critical food, water, and supplies for evacuees en route, as well as plans for providing shelter to evacuees from other areas. In addition to assessing current evacuation plans, the report summarizes lessons learned from and best practices in planning and conducting mass evacuations. This information should provide a valuable resource to State and local governments in the region and in other areas, many of whom currently are in the process of updating their emergency operations plans.

"This evacuation guide is intended to assist the stadium's owner/operator with developing and implementing an Evacuation Plan by serving as a guide for stadium emergency managers charged with planning for the protection of stadium spectators and participants in the event of an incident. Many stadiums currently have Evacuation Plans containing procedures for evacuation, as well as relocation and sheltering in place during specific incidents. This guide will assist stadium owners/operators with preparing an Evacuation Plan, and determining when and how to evacuate, shelter in place or relocate stadium spectators and participants. The Evacuation Plan should be included as an appendix to the Stadium's Emergency Plan. The Evacuation Plan is only intended to supplement the Emergency Plan with regard to evacuation procedures. The Evacuation Plan should reference, but not include, any activities or processes that are inherently found within the stadium's Emergency Plan."

This report discusses collaboration between public safety agencies and stadium officials in Spain. From the text: "On December 12, 2004, the stadium Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid was evacuated because of a bomb threat. Police and stadium security personnel implemented the stadium's emergency mass evacuation plan for the first time. In eight minutes, more than 70,000 people left the premises without incident. The Basque newspaper 'Gara' received an anonymous phone call at 7:55 pm announcing that the terrorist organization Euzkadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) had placed a bomb in the Santiago Bernabeu set to detonate at 9:00 pm. At 8:15 pm, police officers notified the stadium's security chief and General Director of the Spanish police Victor Garcia Hidalgo, who was in the stadium watching the game. Garcia Hidalgo established an emergency crisis group at the site and consulted with the Minister of the Interior and police and security officers."

"Hurricane Katrina demonstrated difficulties involved in evacuating communities and raised questions about how hospitals and nursing homes plan for evacuations and how the federal government assists. Due to broad-based congressional interest, GAO [Government Accountability Office] assessed the evacuation of hospital patients and nursing home residents. Under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative, GAO examined (1) the challenges hospital and nursing home administrators faced, (2) the extent to which limitations exist in the design of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) to assist with patient evacuations, and (3) the federal requirements for hospital and nursing home disaster and evacuation planning. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed federal officials, and interviewed hospital and nursing home administrators and state and local officials in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi and Hurricane Charley in Florida." Results of the investigation include facility administrators' difficulties in gaining proper transportation for patients to NDMS "mobilization centers", and the lack of an agreement in the National Response Plan between NDMS and nursing homes.

"The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) proudly presents this primer, Evacuating Populations with Special Needs, as the third in the Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning primer series. This installment focuses on evacuating people who need assistance in leaving an area, particularly people with disabilities, aging populations, people living in congregate or residential care facilities, and those with household pets. We developed this primer to assist transportation agencies, emergency managers, first responders, and special needs service organizations understand applicable legislation-including new legislation passed after the Hurricane Katrina response-and develop and implement evacuations of special needs populations."

"This document provides an overview of the good practices identified during a series of multi-state work¬shops on Transportation Evacuation Preparedness and Response in four regions across the United States. Good practices are not presented in priority order, but rather were grouped in the three work-shop phases as follows: Preparation and Activation, Response, Re-entry; Return to Readiness. The four workshops were based on the Federal Highway Administration's three volume primer series: Routes to Effective Evacuation Planning Primer Series Using Highways for Notice Evacuations; Using Highways for No-Notice Evacuations; Evacuating Populations With Special Needs."

"These recommendations are offered to assist in development of a system that could be used during a mass casualty or evacuation event to locate, track, and regulate patients and evacuees. The recommendations can provide decision support to persons and organizations responsible for patient and evacuee movement, health care and transportation resource allocation, and incident management. [...] In October 2005 the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded a contract to Abt Associates and its subcontractor, Partners Healthcare, to support development of a national strategy for the design, development, and implementation of an interagency mass patient and evacuee movement, regulating and tracking system. [...] The project team was instructed to consider a National System that is as inclusive and comprehensive as possible. In that sense, 'national' refers to geographic scope, rather than to a level of government. In particular, the National System does not focus exclusively on patients and evacuees transported or cared for by Federal agencies, but rather on any person affected by a multi-jurisdictional incident who seeks medical attention, is unable to self-evacuate to a safe area, or needs assistance with transportation or shelter. An ideal National System would update location and health status information of patients and evacuees at any location where they are treated, housed, sheltered, or transported, including overnight facilities, locations where patients and evacuees board or get off vehicles, or other temporary gathering points."

"This resource was developed by AHRQ as part of its Public Health Emergency Preparedness program, which was discontinued on June 30, 2011. Many of AHRQ's PHEP materials and activities will be supported by other Federal agencies. Notice of transfer to another agency will be posted on this site."

"HURREVAC stands for HURRicane EVACuation program on a computer. The program was developed by Sea Island Software, Inc. beginning in 1988, in response to a need for computer based management of data produced by various federal Hurricane Evacuation Studies. These studies were produced for discrete regions of the country (usually a state, or in the case of Florida, a portion of a state). The purpose of the studies, and of HURREVAC, is to assist government emergency managers in making decisions for their states/communities when under a hurricane threat. […] HURREVAC tracks hurricanes on computer plot maps using information from the National Hurricane Center (National Weather Service, NOAA) and does its job of estimating when various evacuation decisions should be made, using data from the federal hurricane evacuation study for the area."

This site contains extensive resources and links regarding hospitals, clinicians, evacuation centers, food safety and environmental issues related to hurricanes and typhoons.