Amber Alert, Disaster Response and Evacuation, Planned Special Events, Adverse Weather and Environmental Conditions, and Other Messages for Display on Dynamic Message Signs
Amber Alert, Disaster Response and Evacuation, Planned Special Events, Adverse Weather and Environmental Conditions, and Other Messages for Display on Dynamic Message Signs

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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This report provides the results of focus group studies and human factors laboratory studies to investigate issues related to America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) alerts, disaster response and evacuation (flooding, hurricane evacuation, and terrorist attacks), planned special events, and adverse weather and environmental conditions in order to design effective messages for display on dynamic message signs (DMSs). Focus group studies were conducted in six cities in Texas to obtain driver views of the above issues and to discuss driver information needs. The results of the focus group studies were used as the basis for more extensive human factors laboratory studies that were then conducted in six cities in Texas. The laboratory studies were administered using several different methods of participant interface including laptop computer programs, maps, card selection process, and a driving environment simulator. This report contains specific findings and recommendations concerning message design issues for DMSs for each of the topic areas identified.

Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans
Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans

Author: United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 75

ISBN-13:

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Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101 provides guidelines on developing emergency operations plans (EOP). It promotes a common understanding of the fundamentals of risk-informed planning and decision making to help planners examine a hazard or threat and produce integrated, coordinated, and synchronized plans. The goal of CPG 101 is to make the planning process routine across all phases of emergency management and for all homeland security mission areas. This Guide helps planners at all levels of government in their efforts to develop and maintain viable all-hazards, all-threats EOPs. Accomplished properly, planning provides a methodical way to engage the whole community in thinking through the life cycle of a potential crisis, determining required capabilities, and establishing a framework for roles and responsibilities. It shapes how a community envisions and shares a desired outcome, selects effective ways to achieve it, and communicates expected results. Each jurisdiction's plans must reflect what that community will do to address its specific risks with the unique resources it has or can obtain.

Emergency Alert and Warning Systems
Emergency Alert and Warning Systems

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2018-04-19

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 0309467403

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Following a series of natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, that revealed shortcomings in the nation's ability to effectively alert populations at risk, Congress passed the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act in 2006. Today, new technologies such as smart phones and social media platforms offer new ways to communicate with the public, and the information ecosystem is much broader, including additional official channels, such as government social media accounts, opt-in short message service (SMS)-based alerting systems, and reverse 911 systems; less official channels, such as main stream media outlets and weather applications on connected devices; and unofficial channels, such as first person reports via social media. Traditional media have also taken advantage of these new tools, including their own mobile applications to extend their reach of beyond broadcast radio, television, and cable. Furthermore, private companies have begun to take advantage of the large amounts of data about users they possess to detect events and provide alerts and warnings and other hazard-related information to their users. More than 60 years of research on the public response to alerts and warnings has yielded many insights about how people respond to information that they are at risk and the circumstances under which they are most likely to take appropriate protective action. Some, but not all, of these results have been used to inform the design and operation of alert and warning systems, and new insights continue to emerge. Emergency Alert and Warning Systems reviews the results of past research, considers new possibilities for realizing more effective alert and warning systems, explores how a more effective national alert and warning system might be created and some of the gaps in our present knowledge, and sets forth a research agenda to advance the nation's alert and warning capabilities.

Tsunami Warning and Preparedness
Tsunami Warning and Preparedness

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-03-01

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0309209897

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Many coastal areas of the United States are at risk for tsunamis. After the catastrophic 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, legislation was passed to expand U.S. tsunami warning capabilities. Since then, the nation has made progress in several related areas on both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, NOAA has improved the ability to detect and forecast tsunamis by expanding the sensor network. Other federal and state activities to increase tsunami safety include: improvements to tsunami hazard and evacuation maps for many coastal communities; vulnerability assessments of some coastal populations in several states; and new efforts to increase public awareness of the hazard and how to respond. Tsunami Warning and Preparedness explores the advances made in tsunami detection and preparedness, and identifies the challenges that still remain. The book describes areas of research and development that would improve tsunami education, preparation, and detection, especially with tsunamis that arrive less than an hour after the triggering event. It asserts that seamless coordination between the two Tsunami Warning Centers and clear communications to local officials and the public could create a timely and effective response to coastal communities facing a pending tsuanami. According to Tsunami Warning and Preparedness, minimizing future losses to the nation from tsunamis requires persistent progress across the broad spectrum of efforts including: risk assessment, public education, government coordination, detection and forecasting, and warning-center operations. The book also suggests designing effective interagency exercises, using professional emergency-management standards to prepare communities, and prioritizing funding based on tsunami risk.

Facing the Unexpected
Facing the Unexpected

Author: Ronald W. Perry

Publisher: Joseph Henry Press

Published: 2001-11-06

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0309171970

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Facing the Unexpected presents the wealth of information derived from disasters around the world over the past 25 years. The authors explore how these findings can improve disaster programs, identify remaining research needs, and discuss disaster within the broader context of sustainable development. How do different people think about disaster? Are we more likely to panic or to respond with altruism? Why are 110 people killed in a Valujet crash considered disaster victims while the 50,000 killed annually in traffic accidents in the U.S. are not? At the crossroads of social, cultural, and economic factors, this book examines these and other compelling questions. The authors review the influences that shape the U.S. governmental system for disaster planning and response, the effectiveness of local emergency agencies, and the level of professionalism in the field. They also compare technological versus natural disaster and examine the impact of technology on disaster programs.

A Transportation Guide for All-hazards Emergency Evacuation
A Transportation Guide for All-hazards Emergency Evacuation

Author: Deborah Matherly

Publisher: Transportation Research Board

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0309259010

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"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 740: A Transportation Guide for All-Hazards Emergency Evacuation focuses on the transportation aspects of evacuation, particularly large-scale, multijurisdictional evacuation. The guidance, strategies, and tools in NCHRP Report 740 are based on an all-hazards approach that has applicability to a wide range of "notice" and "no-notice" emergency events. The report follows the basic planning steps of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101. Each chapter parallels one of the six main CPG steps. Each chapter is further subdivided into smaller, discrete tasks, with cross-references to tools--such as templates or checklists--that are shown at the end of each chapter and are on a CD-ROM included with the print version of the report."--Publisher's description.