definition
The purpose of evacuation is to relocate people temporarily from areas at risk of the consequences of flooding to places of safety. 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 simulations, such as modelling the flow of people in a building, to determine the benchmark. Proper planning will use multiple exits, contra-flow lanes, and special technologies to ensure full, fast and complete evacuation. Consideration for personal situations which may affect an individual's ability to evacuate is taken into account, including alarm signals that use both aural and visual alerts, and also evacuation equipment such as sleds, pads, and chairs for non-ambulatory people. Regulations such as building codes can be used to reduce the possibility of panic by allowing individuals to process the need to self-evacuate without causing alarm. Proper planning will implement an all-hazards approach so that plans can be reused for multiple hazards that could exist. The sequence of an evacuation can be divided into detection, decision, alarm, reaction, movement to an area of refuge or an assembly station transportation. (Wikipedia, Emergency evacuation, accessed on Sept. 2016)Co-benefits and impacts
Having an evacuation plan leads to timely issuance of warning resulted to efficient execution of bringing people to evacuation centres i.e. enhances the community’s response capability during flood events. Moreover, evacuation planning employs proactive approach for solutions to evacuation problem by modelling the process of hazard occurrence through many kinds of simulation techniques and develops recommendations for improvement of evacuation procedures, redesigning and creating additional shelter areas, evacuation training, etc. (Jafari M. et.al., 2003, p. 3)Related Links
FRI indicators (Show all)
Availability and level of spatial coverage of emergency communication systemsAvailability of emergency evacuation routes
Availability and level of accessibility of emergency shelters
Availability and level of accessibility of emergency road network
Availability of evacuation plans with maps
Availability of crisis management plan with maps
Embodying climate change predictions in spatial urban planning
Availability of financial resources enabling the development and implementation of evacuation plans before human loss
Responsible authorities Learning and adapting from previous events
Multidisciplinary knowledge exchange (engineer, architect/urban planner, sociologist, economist, politician - city government, etc.)
Knowledge exchange between scientific community and authorities
Last modified: Sept. 19, 2016, 8:30 a.m.