Transportation

Transportation is key to disaster preparedness, and is one of the major obstacles to disaster response. Evacuation routes and disaster response routes are critical to preparedness plans, particularly in conjunction with the coordination of air and water transit. Most weather disasters will impact both. Debris, standing water, or fire may block routes and need to be cleared before the routes can be used, but need the routes to be used to bring in the personnel to clear them. This delays the recovery process, adds to equipment and labor costs, and in many cases may require the use of helicopters to bring in personnel to prepare other transit routes, clear runways, or repair ports. Transportation hazards also add to the human cost of the disaster when ...