Emergency evacuation
Emergency evacuation is an immediate egress or escape of people away from an area that contains an imminent threat, an ongoing threat or a hazard to lives or property.
Examples range from the small-scale evacuation of a building due to a
Reasons
Evacuations may be carried out before, during, or after disasters such as:
- Natural disasters
- Eruptions of volcanoes
- Tropical cyclones
- Floods
- Earthquakes
- Tsunamis
- Wildfires/Bushfires
- Industrial accidents
- Chemical spill
- Nuclear accident
- Transport
- Road accidents
- Train wreck
- Emergency aircraft evacuation
- Fires
- Military attacks
- Bombings
- Terrorist attacks
- Military battles
- Imminent nuclear war
- Structural failure
- Viral outbreak
- Robbery
- Plane crash
Planning
Emergency evacuation plans are developed to ensure the safest and most efficient evacuation time of all expected residents of a structure, city, or region. A benchmark "evacuation time" for different hazards and conditions is established. These benchmarks can be established through using best practices, regulations, or using
Therefore, key elements for emergency planning and preparedness are early warnings for the people inside the building by emergency helpers but also voice assistance, facilities to leave the building safe and fast, such as exit routes and good evacuation practices. The evacuation managing team must know what to do in emergency situations and which actions to take.[1]
Sequence
The sequence of an evacuation can be divided into the following phases:
- detection
- decision
- alarm
- reaction
- movement to an area of refuge or an assembly station
- transportation
The time for the first four phases is usually called pre-movement time.
The particular phases are different for different objects, e.g., for ships a distinction between assembly and embarkation (to boats or rafts) is made. These are separate from each other. The decision whether to enter the boats or rafts is thus usually made after assembly is completed.
Small-scale
The strategy of individuals in evacuating buildings was investigated by John Abrahams in 1994.
By investing the strategy of individuals in evacuating buildings, the variable human reactions is a complex factor to take into account during an evacuation. This is a critical factor for escaping fast out of the building or to a "safe haven". During an emergency evacuation, people do not immediately react after hearing the alarm signal. This is because an evacuation drill is more common. Therefore, they will start evacuating when there is more information given about the degree of danger. During an evacuation, people often use the most known escape route, this is often the route through which they entered the building. Thereby, people mostly adapt the role follower in emergencies. These human reactions will determinate the strategy of individuals in evacuating buildings.[4]
The most common equipment in buildings to facilitate emergency evacuations are
Since the emergence of
Large-scale
The evacuation of districts is part of
Hurricanes
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
Despite mandatory evacuation orders, many people did not leave New Orleans, United States, as Hurricane Katrina approached. Even after the city was flooded and uninhabitable, some people still refused to leave their homes.[6][7]
The longer a person has lived in a coastal area, the less likely they are to evacuate. A hurricane's path is difficult to predict. Forecasters know about hurricanes days in advance, but their forecasts of where the storm will hit are only educated guesses. Hurricanes give a lot of warning time compared to most disasters humans experience. This allows forecasters and officials to "cry wolf," making people take evacuation orders less seriously. Hurricanes can be predicted to hit a coastal town many times without the town ever actually experiencing the brunt of a storm. If evacuation orders are given too early, the hurricane can change course and leave the evacuated area unscathed. People may think they have weathered hurricanes before, when in reality the hurricane didn't hit them directly, giving them false confidence. Those who have lived on the coast for ten or more years are the most resistant to evacuating.[8]
Public transportation
Since Hurricane Katrina, there has been an increase in evacuation planning. Current best practices include the need to use multi-modal transportation networks. Hurricane Gustav used military airlift resources to facilitate evacuating people out of the affected area. More complex evacuation planning is now being considered, such as using elementary schools as rally points for evacuation. In the United States, elementary schools are usually more numerous in a community than other public structures. Their locations and inherent design to accommodate bus transportation makes it an ideal evacuation point.
Enforcement
In the United States, a person usually cannot be forced to evacuate. To facilitate voluntary compliance with mandatory evacuation orders first responders and disaster management officials have used creative techniques such as asking people for the names and contact of their next-of-kin, writing their Social Security Numbers on their limbs and torso to enable identification of remains,[9] and refusing to provide government services in the affected area, including emergency services.
Kits
In preparation for emergency evacuation situations, experts often advise having an individual emergency evacuation kit prepared and on hand prior to the emergency. An emergency evacuation kit is a container of food, clothing, water, and other supplies that can be used to sustain an individual during lag time. Lag time is the period between the actual occurrence of an emergency and when organized help becomes available, generally 72 hours, [citation needed] though this can vary from a few hours to several days. It may take this long for authorities to get evacuation shelters fully up and functional. During this time, evacuees may suffer fairly primitive conditions; no clean water, heat, lights, toilet facilities, or shelter. An emergency evacuation kit, or 72-hour kit, can help evacuees to endure the evacuation experience with dignity and a degree of comfort.
Cyber-physical systems
The
See also
- Civil defense – Protection of citizens from natural disaster and military attack
- Emergency management – Dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies
- Evacuation simulation
- List of mass evacuations
- Emergency aircraft evacuation – Emergency evacuation of an aircraft
- Shelter in place– Act of seeking safety in the building one is in
- Symmetry breaking of escaping ants – Pattern in ant behaviour
References
- ^ "FAQs about building evacuation". www.nfpa.org.
- ISBN 978-0-419-18170-5.
- .
- ^ https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0379711209001167/1-s2.0-S0379711209001167-main.pdf?_tid=30e981cc-414f-4174-a034-b221f889ce6e&acdnat=1539188354_14d09fd713a4da2cf0e23a05ec82b21e [dead link]
- arXiv:1711.07277 [cs.IT].
- ^ "New Orleans Rescues Continue, But Some Won't Go". npr.org.
- ^ "Rescuers Urge Residents to Leave New Orleans". npr.org.
- ^ "Floyd Follies: What We've Learned". July 12, 2002.
- ^ Tierney, John (6 September 2005). "Magic Marker Strategy". The New York Times.
- )
- arXiv:1508.03204 [cs.CY].
- Gershenfeld, Neil, Mathematical Modelling. OUP, Oxford, 1999.
- Hubert Klüpfel, A Cellular Automaton Model for Crowd Movement and Egress Simulation. Dissertation, Universität Duisburg-Essen, 2003.
- Stollard, P. and L. Johnson, Eds., "Design against fire: an introduction to fire safety engineering design", London, New York, 1994.
- Künzer, L. Myths Of Evacuation in FeuerTRUTZ International 1.2016, p. 8-11