Spatial Model to Evacuate Special Needs Population to Appropriate Shelters

N A T I O N A L C E N T E R F O R B I O D E F E N S E C O M M U N I C A T I O N SJ A C K S O N S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

J A C K S O N , M S

Spatial Model to Evacuate Special Needs Population to

Appropriate Shelters

URISA 2011 GIS in Public Health Conference – June 27-30, 2011 - Atlanta, Georgia - www.urisa.org

Spatial Model to Evacuate Special Needs Population to Appropriate Shelters

Evacuation route planning is a vital component to prepare for both natural and man-made disasters

Developing thorough emergency evacuation plans plays a vital role in ensuring public safety

Planning identifies routes to minimize the time to evacuate the effected vulnerable population to a set of destinations (Shelters)

URISA 2011 GIS in Public Health Conference - Atlanta, Georgia - www.urisa.org

Risk situations can be identified, evaluated by integrating geospatial data.

Integrated information system supports emergency responders to plan alternative traffic directions.

Such systems helps to develop route plan for safe movement of vulnerable population to safer areas

Emergency Response System should be equipped with tools to overcome resource shortfalls




Pre-Disaster Activities

Mitigation: measures to reduce the likelihood of damage or to lessen its impacts.

Preparedness: emergency plans that provide for a decision-making structure

Post-Disaster Activities

Response: mobilization of first

responders, provision of emergency

support services (evacuation if necessary).

Recovery: reestablishment of normal operations and return of evacuees to affected areas.


Application of GIS technologies

Information tools developed using Geospatial technologies:

Can be used through out the phases of emergency response system.

Determine the incident locations and analyze the range of emergencies.

Allows predicting an evacuation route from incident point to closest shelters.

Suggest directions to follow the route (specifics to a disaster).

Provide scenario based rescue strategies to decision makers.


Status of Emergency response tools in MS

The state of MS lacks centralized accessible source of data to the emergency responders on shelter locations and vulnerable populations with medical needs.

The Mississippi Department of Health lists the rural character of the state and its disproportionate number of disabled people.

Information about the citizens particularly who needs medical attention and transportation is of paramount importance in early preparedness.


Objective of the study

To provide a centralized accessible source of data for emergency responders.

To develop network-based information tool that can• Determine the location of incident in the state

• Create a scenario based impact buffer region

• Identify population centers, especially with medical needs

• Determine the closest shelters from the travel time based road network built for the state.

• Generate evacuation routes leading to the shelters from the population centers.

To integrate and disseminate the generated information on DISCOVER MS


DISSEMINATION :DISCOVER MS


Methodology: GIS-Based Evacuation Tool

Major Components and Data Sources


Navigable Data Model Geospatial Database

Travel time based Road Network layer using

Network Analyst

• Demographic profile• Red Cross Shelter Locations• MSDH Hospital Locations



Travel-Time based network dataset Generation of Service Areas



Automate the process using Model Builder

GIS-Based Evacuation Tool


INCIDENT LOCATION AND HOSPITALS IN THE IMPACT ZONE

GIS-Based Evacuation Model


GIS-Based Evacuation Model


Future Work


Hospital Capacity (1000)

2nd Closest Shelter:700

3rd Closest Shelter: 100

Closest Shelter: 200

2 m

iles

1 mile

Conclusion

Currently NCBC’s spatial model facilitates

To access centralized data for the state of MS from DISCOVER MS

To build travel time based road network data set for Mississippi

To analyze travel based service areas of the critical facilities

To determine incident location and identify the vulnerable population centers and health facilities in their impact region.

To identify 4 closest shelter locations (time based)and generate evacuation routes leading to these facilities.

To disseminate the results on DISCOVER MS.

Future work: NCBC focuses on improvising the tool in order to facilitate the emergency responders to

Determine the closest shelters based on their capacity and its type (medical facilities/pet friendly)


Questions !!



Documents

Spatial Model to Evacuate Special Needs Population to Appropriate Shelters