Emergency Management Planning Research Articles

Animal health emergencies: a gender-based analysis for planning and policy.

There has been increasing recognition of gender-based inequity as a barrier to successful policy implementation. This consensus, coupled with an increasing frequency of emergencies in human and animal populations, including infectious disease events, has prompted policy makers to re-evaluate gender-sensitivity in emergency management planning. Seeking to identify key publications relating to gendered impacts and considerations across diverse stakeholders in different types of animal health emergencies, we conducted a non-exhaustive, targeted scoping review. We developed a matrix for both academic and policy literature that separated animal health emergencies into two major categories: humanitarian crises and infectious disease events. We then conducted semi-structured interviews with key animal health experts. We found minimal evidence of explicit gender responsive planning in animal health emergencies, whether humanitarian or infectious disease events. This was particularly salient in Global North literature and policy planning documents. Although there are some references to gender in policy documents pertaining to endemic outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in Uganda, most research remains gender blind. Despite this, implicit gendered themes emerged from the literature review and interviews as being direct or indirect considerations of some research, policy, and implementation efforts: representation; gendered exposure risks; economic impact; and unpaid care. Absent from both the literature and our conversations with experts were considerations of mental health, gender-based violence, and intersectional impacts. To remedy the gaps in gender-based considerations, we argue that the intentional inclusion of a gender transformative lens in animal health emergency planning is essential. This can be done in the following ways: (1) collection of disaggregated data (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.); (2) inclusion of gender experts; and (3) inclusion of primary gendered impacts (minimal representation of women in policy positions, gender roles, economic and nutrition impacts) and secondary gendered impacts (gender-based violence, mental health, additional unpaid care responsibilities) in future planning.

Pets are family, keep them safe: a review of emergency animal management in remote First Nations communities

Planning for and considering animals is a growing area within emergency and disaster planning. As people adapt to the changing risks of disaster events that are increasing in magnitude and frequency, communities, particularly those in regional and remote areas of Australia, face challenges that are very different from other more populated areas. These communities are often home to pets, which pose unique challenges during evacuation, response and recovery phases of emergency management. Australian state and territory government emergency management plans give varied considerations to animal management. In the Northern Territory, the Territory Emergency Plan (Northern Territory Government 2022) serves as a base for animal management in disasters. However, significant reform is required to fill gaps in considerations of animals in remote communities, especially First Nations communities, given the strong socio-cultural connections within family structures and contributions to wellbeing under First Nations health worldviews and the human-animal bond. Such reform requires consultation and collaboration with First Nations Australians to promote ‘right-way’ science, build local capacity and support community resilience. Considerations of the interplay between people and their pets in disaster planning, response and recovery contributes to ongoing advances in the ‘One Health’ and ‘One Welfare’ paradigms.

Disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake, attitudes, and experiences between food system and non–food system essential workers

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the health of food system (FS) essential workers compared with other essential and non-essential workers. Even greater disparity exists for workers in certain FS work settings and for certain FS worker subpopulations. We analyzed essential worker respondents (n = 151,789) in May–Novem­ber 2021 data from the National Immu­nization Survey Adult COVID Module (NIS-ACM) to assess and characterize COVID-19 vaccination uptake (≥1 dose) and intent (reachable, reluctant), attitudes about COVID-19 and the vaccine, and experiences and difficulties getting the vaccine. We compared rates, overall and by certain character­istics, between workers of the same group, and between FS (n = 17,414) and non–food system (NFS) worker groups (n = 134,375), to determine if differences exist. FS worker groups were classi­fied as “agriculture, forestry, fishing, or hunting” (AFFH; n = 2,730); “food manufacturing facility” (FMF; n = 3,495); and “food and beverage store” (FBS; n = 11,189). Compared with NFS workers, significantly lower percentages of FS workers reported >1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine requirements at work or school, but overall vaccine experiences and difficulties among vaccinated FS workers were statistically similar to NFS workers. When we examined intent regarding COVID-19 vaccination among unvaccinated FS workers com­pared with NFS counterparts, we found a higher percentage of FMF and FBS workers were reach­able whereas a higher percentage of AFFH workers were reluctant about vaccination, with differences by sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, results showed differences in uptake, intent, and attitudes between worker groups and by some sociodemographic characteristics. The findings reflect the diversity of FS workers and underscore the importance of collecting occupational data to assess health inequalities and of tailoring efforts to worker groups to improve confidence and uptake of vaccinations for infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The findings can inform future re­search, adult infectious disease interventions, and emergency management planning.

Assessing the household burdens of infrastructure disruptions in Texas during Winter Storm Uri

AbstractIn February 2021, severe winter weather conditions associated with Winter Storm Uri triggered an energy infrastructure failure in Texas. Most Texans lost electricity, some lost potable water, natural gas, and suffered other infrastructure-related service disruptions that had profound household consequences. Although several studies have documented the disparities in terms of the types and extent of disruptions Texans experienced during Uri, there is little information about the impact of these disruptions in terms of their burdens on households. Guided by the Capabilities Approach framework, a survey of Texan households was conducted to identify the outage characteristics and capability losses for different household types, as well as the burdens that those disruptions posed to households using both objective and subjective measures. Our results indicate that households that endured longer and constant electricity outages suffered more severe impacts across all measures, including more disrupted household capabilities, increased time, and financial costs to cope during the outages, as well as greater declines in reported life satisfaction. We found that low-income households, households with children, and households with disability challenges suffered more severe objective burdens during the storm, although subjective results for these households were mixed. Households with members over the age of 65 fared better in terms of objective measures, yet suffered more in terms of subjective well-being. Moreover, households that had prior experience with a prolonged outage reported significantly smaller reductions in well-being during the storm than other households, despite not showing any difference in objective measures. Ultimately, our results offer context-specific, post-event information about the impacts and needs of different types of households during Uri that are important for informing emergency management and community resilience planning.

Managing pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis in an austere setting: A case report.

Pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) is the most common demyelinating disease in children. Patients suffer from physical disability, cognitive impairment, and psychosocial challenges. Management requires a multidisciplinary care team. Here we present a case of an 11-year-old boy with POMS who relocated to Guam prior to initiation of a disease-modifying treatment and who experienced a flare without immediate access to an MRI or a child neurologist. Care required the combined efforts of ophthalmology, pediatrics, and emergency medicine in Guam, real-time remote guidance by child neurology, and asynchronous collaboration with cardiology and child neurology. As a result, the immediate flare was accurately diagnosed and treated with steroids, the patient was started on Fingolimod, and an emergency management plan for future flares was constructed. This case illustrates the nuances of both the acute and chronic management of multiple sclerosis in a resource-limited setting and how a combination of synchronous and asynchronous telemedicine was able to achieve a satisfactory treatment plan.

Held in the grip: Political status, governing institutions, and emergency management procedural arrangements in the cases of Florida and Puerto Rico

AbstractTo what extent do institutions governing the relationship of the U.S. Federal government with U.S. states and U.S. territories affect their emergency preparedness and response operations? States retain more legislative autonomy and representation than territories in the U.S. Congress, which is responsible for the emergency management budget. The advocacy capabilities of territories may be limited, and greater budget constraints are expected to affect the capability of territories to implement federal emergency management plans and perform effective response operations. This work focuses on a comparative case study between responses to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Michael in Florida. The multi‐technique qualitative approach combines content analysis and interviews. Findings suggest that neither Florida nor Puerto Rico was prepared to respond to hurricanes of such magnitude, but the procedural arrangements of the Florida emergency management system resulted in a more effective response to Hurricane Michael if compared to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.Related ArticlesLiu, Zezhao, and Zhengwei Zhu. 2021. “China's Pathway to Domestic Emergency Management: Unpacking the Characteristics in System Evolution.” Politics & Policy 49(3): 619–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12407.Neill, Katharine A., and John C. Morris. 2012. “A Tangled Web of Principals and Agents: Examining the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill through a Principal–Agent Lens.” Politics & Policy 40(4): 629–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00371.x.Zang, Xiaowei. 2021. “Environmental Accidents and Environmental Legislation in China: Evidence from Provincial Panel Sata (1997–2014).” Politics & Policy 50(1): 77–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12446.

Living in-between: Implications of local risk perceptions for the management of future eruptions at the Calbuco and Osorno volcanoes (Ensenada, Chile)

Since the perceptions of communities at risk play a central role in managing future emergencies, contingency plans must consider the appropriate involvement of the perspectives of exposed populations. This article addresses the case of Ensenada (Puerto Varas, Chile), a settlement located in the area of direct influence of the Calbuco and Osorno volcanoes. They respectively rank 2nd and 8th in the list of highest-threat Chilean volcanoes. Here we depict the multiple risk perceptions of the inhabitants of Ensenada and the integration of human perceptions into volcanic emergency management through qualitative research, based on semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. Our results illustrate that Ensenada represents a settlement critically exposed to multiple hazards from both volcanoes, intertwined with a series of social conditions that influence individuals’ self-perception as vulnerable to future eruptions and, simultaneously, as capable of acquiring conditions to strengthen disaster preparedness. Moreover, the locals are eager to participate in future emergency management planning and adopt preventive attitudes at community, household, and individual levels. Based on these results, we highlight the advantages of a better understanding of the causes of perceived risk and its integration into emergency management strategies for future eruptions, in order to visualise how people make sense of daily life and disaster preparedness in the midst of active volcanoes.

Seasonal rockfall risk analysis in a touristic island: Application to the Tramuntana Range (Mallorca, Spain)

Rockfalls are an ever-present possibility in the mountainous context of the Tramuntana Region (Mallorca, Spain). Recent events have shown the high potential for direct and indirect impact on the safety of people and economic activities, lasting for weeks or even months. In the present study, we start from a probabilistic assessment of the rockfall hazard (spatial propensity and temporal recurrence), based on a detailed historical record of occurrences and rockfall modelling, which is subsequently superimposed on three exposure scenarios and on a social vulnerability assessment. Exposure considers the floating population at three seasons of the year, given the area's high tourist aptitude. Vulnerability considers on the one hand the intrinsic characteristics of individuals and, on the other, the characteristics of the surrounding territory that act to facilitate emergency operations, mitigate the immediate impact and enhance rapid recovery. Due to the characteristics of the island and the spatial distribution of tourism, the results show that the highest density of rockfall trajectories potentially affect areas of high exposure, whose access by emergency services is complex. Not being, in general, the areas of highest individual criticality, those areas have in most situations low support capability installed or nearby.The results constitute a useful tool for emergency and risk management planning in multiple sectors linked to risk governance. Despite the high geographic detail of the analysis, these studies do not replace exposure and vulnerability analysis at the building level, for which the contribution of georeferenced Census data is fundamental.

Mass Decontamination of Companion Dogs in Disaster: Planning for Personnel, Water, and Time Requirements.

The importance of companion animals in the daily lives of people, and the increasing incidence and severity of natural disasters impacting people and their animals, is very well documented. However, despite the advancement of companion animal response capabilities, decontamination remains an inconsistently implemented component of disaster response. The challenge for local authorities is their need for planning factors and protocols specific to companion animal decontamination which are generally lacking. Data is provided on the average time requirements, water use and containment resources necessary, and the personnel required to decontaminate (decon) a large number of companion dogs. Sixty-three lightly contaminated, medium weight, short to medium coat, highly tractable dogs (Labradors and Hounds) from a State facility colony were used to determine the water requirements, soap effectiveness, and time required to complete decon (washing/bathing). Data were collected over a 6-mo period using 2 personnel that were randomly assigned to wash the dogs. Difference in weight, bathing time, and water use between groups was evaluated using a 2-tailed 2-sample t-test for independent data. The time and water requirements were significantly different between medium coated dogs and short coated dogs. On average, for a short coated dog, the amount of time to complete decon was 7 min, and the amount of water was 8-10 gal. For medium coated dogs, the time increased to 10-12 min to complete the process and 12-15 gal water. The results of this study provide important insights emergency management planners, animal response team members, and community personnel tasked with implementation of mass decontamination of companion dogs following a natural or man-made disaster.

Historical Development of Emergency and Disaster Management Plans

6 Şubat 2023 tarihinde meydana gelen ve asrın felaketi diye isimlendirilen Kahramanmaraş merkezli depremlerin elli binden fazla vatandaşımızın hayatını yitirmesine ve 100 milyar doların üzerinde ekonomik kayba neden olması nedeniyle ülkemizi çok ciddi şekilde etkilemiş ve sürdürülebilir kalkınma hedeflerine önemli bir sekte vurmuştur. Depremin yanı sıra Türkiye başta sel ve orman yangınları olmak üzere farklı tür birçok afete maruz kalmakta her yıl çok sayıda vatandaşımız hayatını yitirmekte, ekonomik kayıplar meydana gelmekte ve sosyolojik, psikolojik olarak bütün toplum olarak afetlerden önemli derecede etkilenilmektedir. Bu sonuçlar bize Türkiye’nin afetlerle istenilen düzeyde mücadele edemediğini, afetlere dirençli yerleşimler yaratamadığını, afete dirençli toplumlar oluşturamadığını göstermektedir. Olası afetlerin etkilerini en aza indirebilmek için olaya bütüncül bakarak farklı konularda farklı alanlarda çok sayıda çalışma yapmak gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmalar arasında acil durum ve afet yönetimi planları önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. 1945’li yıllardan itibaren değişik tarihlerde hazırlanan birçok yasa ve yönetmelikte bu planların yapılması gerektiği ile ilgili birçok düzenleme yapılmıştır. Makalenin amacı afet ve acil durum yönetimi planlarının tarihsel süreç içinde nasıl geliştiğini kronolojik olarak ortaya koymak, eski tarihli ve en güncel Türkiye Afet Müdahale planı hakkında bilgiler vermek, planların hazırlanması hususunda yol gösterici olmak, etkin bir şekilde uygulanmasını sağlamaya katkı vermek ve konunun önemine ve gereğine dikkat çekmektir.

The First Statewide Implementation of a Regional Disaster Teleconsultation System to Expand Critical Care Surge Capacity: A Case Study in Vermont.

Background: In December 2021, the Region 1 Disaster Health Response System, the state of Vermont, and the National Emergency Tele-Critical Care Network partnered to provide statewide access to disaster teleconsultations during COVID-19 surge conditions. In this case report, we describe how a disaster teleconsultation system was implemented in Vermont to provide access to temporary tele-critical care consultations during the Omicron COVID-19 surge. Methods: We measured the time from request of service to implementation and calculated descriptive statistics. Results: Seven of Vermont's 14 hospitals requested the service. Despite a technology solution capable of providing services within hours, mean time to service implementation was 27 days (interquartile range 20-41 days). Conclusions: Integration of disaster teleconsultation systems into state and local emergency management plans are needed to bring administrative start-up times in line with technical readiness.

Emergency management short term response to extreme heat in the 25 most populated U.S. cities

BackgroundExtreme heat events are a leading weather-related killer in the United States and are predicted to increase in frequency, duration, and intensity. Emergency managers lead short-term response to heat events as well as other natural and man-made hazards with discretion to develop criteria to activate heat responses, such as opening cooling centers and increasing surveillance activities. We aim to describe and summarize emergency management plans for short-term response to extreme heat events across the U.S. MethodsInformation on hazard mitigation plans (HMP) and heat response plans (HRP) in the 25 most populated cities in the US were collected from the National Science Foundation's Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure DesignSafe Data Depot; interviews with emergency managers; and Freedom of Information Act requests. Obtained responses and policy documents were analyzed to answer the following questions developed in consultation with the National Weather Service (NWS), Weather Program Office: 1. How many locations have developed an HRP? 2. What are the emergency management heat response activation thresholds and metrics for emergency response? 3. Do thresholds change with cascading hazards? 4. Are heat vulnerability indexes (HVI) and/or social vulnerability indexes (SVI) included, and 5. Are health outcomes considered in the development of thresholds? Results1. There is no statistical difference in the prevalence of HRPs across geographic regions in the U.S. 2. Initial response thresholds vary greatly across locations from an ambient temperature of 80–85F (26–29 C) to a Heat Index of 108F (42 C). Eighty-eight (22 of 25) percent of locations are using the NWS Heat Index and twelve percent (3 of 25) are using the experimental HeatRisk Product. 3. Sixty-Eight (17 of 25) percent of cities consider cascading hazards, such as a power grid outage, in their HMP or HRP. None of the cities, however, lower response thresholds, as explicitly written in the plans, during these events. 4. Forty percent (10 of 25) of municipalities have an HVI or SVI included or addressed in their plans, & 5. Three of the cities (New York, Phoenix, & Boston) have adapted response thresholds based on local epidemiological studies DiscussionThere is little consistency in the advisory, warning, and watch criteria thresholds across cities which may be a source of confusion to the public. If such criteria are to be tailored to each geographic location, local epidemiological studies and vulnerabilities should help inform the criteria.

Operationalising water safety plans for Melbourne - a large city case study.

A wholesale/retail model delivers drinking water to over 5 million residents in metropolitan Melbourne (Australia). Water Safety Plans were implemented in 1999 ahead of being regulatory mandated in 2003. With over 20 years of WSP application, this collaborative paper by the wholesaler and retailer utilities presents practical examples of drinking water quality risk management in challenging operational environments, highlighting lessons learnt, improvements made and outcomes achieved. Melbourne's supply comprises multiple sources, necessitating different tailored treatment configurations. Source waters range from open catchment with multiple treatment barriers, to protected catchment source waters requiring solely disinfection treatment (unfiltered) with gravity driven supply. Potable supply is a combination of unfiltered, filtered, desalinated and blended supplies. This makes for diversity in case studies brought to this paper, and a range of lessons likely to be of interest to the global WSP community. The Melbourne utility experience highlights the importance of developing and continually improving control measures for ongoing (adaptive) risk reduction. A robust emergency management plan is also fundamental to ensure preparedness for complex and unpredictable events. Furthermore, leveraging learnings from audits and incidents has been valuable for process improvement. WSP implementation has also facilitated timely communication with consumers and other stakeholders.

A cross-sectional survey of Australian service providers’ emergency preparedness capabilities

Purpose Emergency and disaster management planning is an emerging role with limited practical guidance on how it should be implemented by community, disability, health and rehabilitation service providers. This study examined the emergency preparedness of service providers and how they viewed their role and contributions to disaster risk reduction, including their capacity and willingness to facilitate preparedness planning with their clients. Materials and Methods A questionnaire was developed and administered nationally. Descriptive statistics, multivariate regression analyses, and thematic analysis of open-ended questions provide insight on the knowledge, tools and training needs of service providers to contribute to preparedness of themselves and the people they support. Results Facilitating emergency preparedness with people with disability was strongly associated with a high level of mental preparedness, household preparedness scores, and completion of Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) training. Perceived lack of funding, insufficient tools, and exclusion of emergency planning from job descriptions were negatively associated with facilitating emergency preparedness with clients. Conclusions Study findings lay the groundwork for development of the role and capabilities of individual service providers including the need to equip disability, health and rehabilitation service providers with training and tools to prepare themselves and the people they support for emergencies.

Federalism, Disaster Planning Standards and Canadian Charter Rights


 
 Canada has a problem with emergency management (EM) standards. Canadians utilize a federalist government structure that pushes responsibility for EM planning from the federal government to provinces and territories, who then pass responsibility to municipalities (or regional counties) – who typically have less resources to engage in effective EM than higher levels of government (Raikes & McBean, 2016). In this structure, there are no set standards for levels of risk and disaster protection across the nation. The overall effect of this is the lack of protective measures and planning in place to provide the people living, working or visiting Canada to be as safe as they could be.
 For the purposes of this discussion, the definition of a disaster is any hazard that overwhelms a community’s ability to respond, where the hazard has an immediate and negative effect on tangible (lives, property and the environment) and intangible (cultural practice, knowledge and psychological well-being) assets (Coppola, 2020; Mysiak et al., 2016). Public Safety Canada (2017) has numerous documents, including ‘An Emergency Framework for Canada: Third Edition,’ that suggests all levels of government and citizens of Canada are responsible to be prepared and help mitigate disasters. Pragmatically, however, not all people have the means, opportunity, or privilege to be prepared (Cox & Kim, 2018). Furthermore, is it the responsibility of private citizens and businesses to be prepared in case of a large-scale natural or human-made disaster for which they have little resources, training, and control compared to governments? Federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments have the ability and responsibility, both morally and ethically, to institute more concrete disaster risk reduction (DRR) standards across the nation to ensure a higher level of safety for the people in Canada. DRR is described in line with the UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) (2015), where disasters are mitigated through reducing existing and future risk by investing in effective policy, legislation and the recognition of areas of inequality/vulnerability in society that typically lead to an increase of negative disaster outcomes. There is a variety of ways standards could be adopted by FPT governments, such as intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) or coercive or ‘strings attached’ federal funding (Rolland, 2022). Regardless, to date no standards have been created or adopted. As Raikes and McBean (2016) note, all but one province and territory—Québec, have little or nothing in their EM legislation that attempts to reduce risk through planning and preventative measures. Most provincial/territorial legislation only state that municipalities will develop and practice a plan; there are no or few specific guidelines, rules or frameworks for what should or should not be in EM plans; only that one should exist. This paper proposes greater research into interpreting the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (CCRF or the Charter) (1982) sections on the rights to life and security for EM, where insufficient legislation may leave FPT governments open to liability unless specific DRR standards are created and upheld to protect Canadians’ rights.
 

IoT Based Machine Learning Weather Monitoring and Prediction Using WSN

A novel approach to analysis and prediction is provided by the internet of things-based time monitoring and prediction system using wireless sensor networks (WSN) and machine learning techniques (ML). To give accurate meteorological data in real time, the integrated system uses IoT, WSN, and ML. Making informed decisions requires these insights. Includes strategically positioned infrared points that are used to gather meteorological information, such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed, among other things.The machine's automatic data processing methods are then used in a central processing unit to collect and analyse the data. By seeing patterns and drawing diagrams utilising previously collected data, ML models are able to comprehend intricate temporal dynamics. An important development in this system is its predictive capabilities. Artificial intelligence has the processing power to precisely forecast short-term weather patterns, enabling the rapid transmission of warnings for extreme localised events and the reduction of potential dangers.The combination of historical data, real-time sensor inputs, and automated analysis produces the predictive potential. The "Internet of Things" architecture used to develop this system makes it simpler to gather meteorological data. A number of industries, including as agriculture, transportation, emergency management, and event planning, are encouraged to make data-based decisions since users can quickly obtain current meteorological conditions and forecasts through user-friendly web interfaces or mobile applications.

Navigating collaborative governance: Network ignorance and the performative planning of South Australia's emergency management

This paper examines the roles for emergency and disaster risk management plans as policy artefacts that guide centralised governance networks. Past scholarship has been sceptical of the instrumental worth of these artefacts for informing and elaborating governance arrangements. Some suspect that such plans are purely symbolic devices, mere ‘fantasy documents’. This paper examines the role of South Australia's state emergency management plan during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019–2020. The study provides confirmation of the symbolic utility of these plans for central government, while also providing evidence for some suggested difficulties with centralised emergency management networks, about which there is still limited empirical demonstration. Drawing on focus group and interview testimony from senior actors at strategic, tactical and operational levels of South Australia's emergency network, however, we also demonstrate instrumental-heuristic worth of these plans for network actors seeking to make sense of a continually changing bureaucratic landscape, and when reflecting on the value of the network in the aftermath of extreme events.

The analysis of traffic data of wildfire evacuation: the case study of the 2020 Glass Fire

Evacuation is a crucial policy to mitigate wildfire impacts. Understanding traffic dynamics during a wildfire evacuation can help authorities to improve in improving emergency management plans, thus improving life safety. In this study, we developed a methodology to extract historical traffic data from vehicle detector stations and automate the analysis of traffic dynamics for actual wildfire evacuations. This has been implemented in an open-access tool called Traffic Dynamic Analyser (TDA) which generates speed-density and flow-density relationships from data using both commonly used macroscopic traffic models as well as machine learning techniques (e.g., support vector regression). The use of the methodology is demonstrated with a case study of the 2020 Glass Fire in California, USA. The results from TDA showed a slight reduction in speeds and flows on US Highway 101 during the evacuation scenario, compared with the routine scenario. Moreover, background traffic has been shown to play a key role in the 2020 Glass Fire compared with previous wildfire evacuation scenarios (e.g., the 2019 Kincade fire). The case study showed that the methodology implemented in the TDA can be used to understand traffic evacuation dynamics in wildfire scenarios and to validate evacuation models.

Evaluation of animal safe places for emergency evacuation in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia

PurposeThis project aims to improve understanding of disaster preparedness and resilience, as well as animal recovery during a disaster event. The purpose of this study is to determine the type and extent of repair/renovation work required to bring proposed animal safe places and their different components up to the minimum standard for an operational animal evacuation site.Design/methodology/approachOn-site survey using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect data through a five stage processes beginning with the creation of a facility register and continuing with the development of assessment guidelines, assessment planning, actual assessment and reporting. In the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, 25 potential animal evacuation sites, including saleyards, showgrounds, animal shelters and racecourses, were identified and accessed.FindingsThe findings of the study reveals that none of the facilities are of high standard. However, 16% would require cosmetic work, 76% would require minor work and the remaining facilities would require significant work. According to the characteristics of the facilities assessed, saleyards have a greater capacity to accommodate animals ranging in size from large to small. More than half of the facilities have average to excellent hay sheds and wash bays, whereas less than half have dedicated animal quarantine space.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study should assist government agencies, local councils, emergency management teams and other stakeholders in planning for and considering renovation/upgrade of potential animal safe places.Originality/valueThe assessment guideline developed as part of this research can be included in the local council’s emergency management plan to improve adequate planning for safe animal evacuation.

Water distribution based on SAR and optical data to improve hazard mapping

Climate projections foresee intense precipitation and long-term drought events is increasing with consequent rapid changes in surface water bodies in a short period. In areas with drastic hydrological changes, achieving accurate and rapid mapping of these phenomena in combination with hydrologic variability characteristics is a key of effective emergency management and disaster risk reduction plans. This study presents an automatic method for mapping drought and flood hazards, particularly in regions with significant hydrological changes. We use Sentinel-1/2 and Landsat data to extract surface water and classify permanent and seasonal water bodies in historical periods, which serve as the basis for identifying flood or drought areas. The water extraction method combines index-based analysis for optical data and the region-Otsu method for radar data, ensuring accurate identification of water. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated through comparisons with existing products in Poyang Lake (China), the Po River Plain (Italy), and the Indus River Plain (Pakistan). Findings show a high similarity between the two, and our results can provide more specific details. Our method is particularly well-suited for areas with fluctuating hydrological conditions, can also map quickly without optical data. By effectively identifying areas affected by drought and flood hazards while mitigating errors from natural hydrological dynamics, this methodology contributes valuable insights to enhance emergency management and disaster risk reduction plans.