Data Collection Related to Emergency Events

摘要

In this chapter, it has been suggested that collection of data associated with travel generated during an emergency event is an area that provides interesting possibilities for travel survey practitioners. Expertise gained in conducting urban travel surveys will be useful, but the unique conditions that exist in emergency situations will require the development of new approaches. Of particular concern are the need to provide dynamic information, limit the respondent burden to manageable amounts, and develop new techniques whereby supplemental data can be gathered. Data that have been collected in the past do not fulfil the needs of an effective emergency modelling capability. The data needed in evacuation planning are repeated observations over time of the looming threat, the conditions in which the potential evacuee resides, and the characteristics of the potential evacuating household. The threat is described in terms of the intensity, proximity, and projected path of the oncoming danger. The conditions relate to the particular conditions of each household and how they change over time. For example, residences located in low-lying areas are vulnerable to flooding, mobile homes are vulnerable to wind, and congested highways or crowded shelters are a disincentive to evacuation for all in the vicinity of such conditions. Non-physical conditions such as the nature and timing of official evacuation orders, the description of the danger by newscasters, and the behaviour of neighbours, also describe the conditions in which potential evacuees operate.