Evacuation

Evacuation means to move from a place of danger to a place that is safe. It is conceptualized in multiple ways within the literature. Ideally, evacuation should involve using the quickest path to safety. Evacuations are more common than the public realizes. Each year, issues such as chemical releases, wildfires, floods, and even snowstorms force the public to evacuate their homes. Moreover, in a heat wave, often vulnerable populations are moved from their homes to “cooling stations” with the goal of protecting them from brownouts or air conditioner malfunctions, simply to ensure that they are not adversely affected by the extreme temperatures.

Evacuations can be either short term or long term. Short-term evacuations require leaving for safety for a short period of time, to enough distance from danger. In the event of such an occurrence, directions from local emergency management officials are provided. Long-term evacuations may cause individuals to experience displacement or the inability to return to their homes or communities.

Community or individual planning for evacuation has become an integral part of crisis and crisis preparedness. Described as crisis relocation, temporary displacement, or evacuation, much planning for possible evacuation in future nuclear wartime situations has been undertaken in addition to planning for natural and human-made disasters. Planning in the literature is sometimes confounded with preparedness and other times treated as its own construct. Preparedness in the form of general knowledge and information should facilitate evacuation by enabling more appropriate response behaviors. It essentially refers to the readiness of a political jurisdiction to react to threats from the environment in a way that reduces the negative consequences of impact to the health and safety of at-risk individuals. Therefore, preparedness should be treated as distinct from evacuation planning. Planning and preparedness are similar in their attempt to reduce harm and the ability of both to be undertaken at the individual or group level.

The importance of evacuation appears obvious, given that its advantages are seldom explicitly discussed or enumerated in crisis and disaster research. It is an obvious pre-crisis strategy for mitigating the negative consequences associated with a particular extreme event. Pre-crisis evacuation may also serve to strengthen morale because it has the ability to reinforce the beliefs of citizens that authorities are looking out for their interests during a crisis. Post-impact evacuation may enable victims to more easily obtain necessities such as food, water, medication, and shelter.

When community evacuation becomes necessary, it is common for the order to come from local officials. Moreover, the order to evacuate is usually accompanied by detailed instructions. These instructions are updated and repeated by the mass media. In some crises, other warning methods, such as sirens or telephone calls (including what is known as reverse 911) or text messages, are also used. Agencies at several levels of government offer literature and recommendations for evacuation planning. Some of the most common recommendations in the United States include advice such as keeping adequate gas in a primary vehicle for an evacuation. Support is given for this procedure because gas stations may be closed during an emergency or it may be impossible for gas stations to distribute gas during a power outage.

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