City Evacuation / Disaster Plans

[flesh_is_weak]

i live in a city that stands between the sea and a backdrop of tall mountains...should the worse come, we'd merely run for our lives and head for the hills

[irving1903]

lol


Well the only thing we gotta worry bout in Dallas is Tornados and u cant run from them.

[hkskyline]

6 years after Sept. 11, Pittsburgh devising evacuation plans
9 September 2007

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Six years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Pittsburgh emergency workers are beginning to study and devise a plan for the evacuation of the city.

City rescue workers have spent the years since Sept. 11 revamping other emergency services, including consolidating city and county 911 operations.

Now, they have ordered a one-year evacuation study and hope to have a detailed plan ready two or three years after that, officials said.

"We currently don't have an evacuation plan, per se," Pittsburgh Fire Chief Michael Huss told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We have some crude assumptions."

When Flight 93 crashed into an empty field in Somerset County, about 80 miles east of the city, on Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of downtown workers fled, clogging major arteries for hours.

The city has at least one evacuation plan in place that calls for people downtown to congregate at five pickup locations where buses would then drop them off at five designated areas outside the city center.

But none of the pickup locations are marked and some businesses where people would potentially be dropped off remain unaware that they have been chosen as a destination for thousands of evacuees.

Chuck Rompala, assistant manager of the Port Authority's road operations, said the designated bus stops are not marked because of the fear that terrorists would then target those locations in secondary attacks. Instead, the city would hope that regular bus riders would assist those less acquainted with the stops, Rompala said.

Some downtown businesses with their own evacuation plans have not been told that in the case of an emergency their workers would not be able to use their cars. Instead, all employees would have to be evacuated by bus.

That would pose a particular problem for daycare centers, many of which have plans that call for children to be evacuated in daycare vans.

"We have a plan here. We update it every year. But if the city has a grander plan and ours doesn't really matter, then somebody should tell us," said Dawn Fowler, a manager at the downtown center Metropolitan Childcare.

Bob Full, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services, said that many things have been changed in the past six years. The county has expanded its disaster situation room, held major exercises, trained police in hazardous materials and established a mass casualty unit.

"It's not like everyone has been sitting around on their thumbs," Full said. "We are far better off and far safer now than we ever were before."

[Taylorhoge]

Originally Posted by AndySocks

All I have to say is Long Island, all four counties (Kings, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk) would be fucked, if for whatever reason the whole area had to be evacuated. A population of over seven million... and three bridges directly to the mainland, four more plus two tunnels via Manhattan and Staten Island...

Learn to swim, muthafukkas.

jus steal a boat and drive it up to conneticut

[trainrover]

Twice I heard last week that, nine years on now, Vancouver still hasn't drummed up any emergency-response measure to any emergency it might experience.

[-Corey-]

Here in San Diego we have many threats, such as floods, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, San Onofre Nuclear Plant, storms, tsunamis, fires or even a hurricane could hit San Diego AGAIN... (OMG Is not safe to live in San Diego )


San Diego mass evacuation plans not on the books, but officials say they could handle it

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO ---- They have no formalized plan to handle it. But law enforcement, county emergency services and state transportation officials said Friday that they could conduct a mass evacuation of San Diego County's 3.1 million residents ---- efficiently turning incoming Interstates 5, 15 and 8 into outbound pathways from the county "in a matter of hours."

"It doesn't require a lot of preparation for that," said Officer Tom Kerns of the California Highway Patrol. "It only takes one officer to block off an entire freeway. Think about it, traffic cones, Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) crews."

Officials said they have evacuation plans for various San Diego County communities and those surrounding, dams and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. And 10 of an estimated 40 evacuation plans for unincorporated communities have already been created, with another 10 expected to be finished by the end of the year.


But they said there is no overarching written plan to handle an evacuation of the entire county, such as the one unfolding in Houston and other parts of the Gulf Coast ---- because San Diego County doesn't have the kinds of disasters that would require or allow such an evacuation.

Quakes, fires, tsunamis

"The sorts of things that frighten us are wildfires, earthquakes and the potential for tsunamis," said Capt. Glenn Revelle of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department ---- the agency along with city police departments that would call for any evacuations.

Revelle and others said Friday that earthquakes, wildfires and tsunamis would not require the all-county evacuations that people are watching on television in Texas because they either occur without advanced warning, or are "limited in scope."

Unlike hurricanes, which often take days to reach populated areas and give people the chance to flee, there no warnings for earthquakes.

When a quake ---- such as the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake which caused $29 billion in damage in California ---- hits, people and law enforcement officials respond. Instead of evacuating, victims are most often advised to "hunker down" and stay put. And emergency responders end up trying to work their way into communities to find and treat people.

Tsunamis, or tidal waves, and wildfires, meanwhile, typically would never be large enough to require the entire county to flee, officials said.

The 2003 wildfires that killed 16 people and destroyed 2,400 homes forced tens of thousands of San Diego County residents to evacuate ---- as opposed to the millions that have been sent packing by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans and Texas.

Asked about terrorist attacks, which could include nuclear or "dirty" radiation bombs, Revelle said even those attacks would likely be limited in the size of their devastation, and not require a massive evacuation.

"We plan for worst case (situations)," Revelle said. "But it's difficult to fathom something like Texas is seeing now."

Smaller plans

However, Revelle said that the Sheriff's Department, which serves the unincorporated county and nine cities, does have plans that divide the county's 4,261 square miles into several sections, and there are individual evacuation plans for the sections.

County of San Diego officials said a full-scale evacuation of the county could be conducted by staggering evacuations of the county's sections.

Meanwhile, Susan Asturias, a senior emergency services coordinator with the county's Office of Emergency Services, said there are specific evacuation plans for areas surrounding all the dams and reservoirs in the county. They come with flooding pathways, lists of institutions in the flood areas, identified evacuation routes and lists of confidential phone numbers of people the county would notify.

County officials have also been working with unincorporated communities since the 2003 fires to create individual evacuation plans. County spokesman Mike Workman said the county expects to have 20 of roughly 40 community plans finished by the end of the year.

Officials from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station have had detailed evacuation plans for many years. However, they said that evacuation in the event of a problem at the plant would still be limited. A radiation leak, accidental or caused by an attack, would only affect residents living within a 10-mile radius, officials say. Oceanside, the closest North County community, is 14 miles away. Plant officials have said it would be "impossible" for the plant to explode like an atomic bomb, although some critics worry about reactor meltdowns or spent-fuel piles.

Exit quickly?

Revelle said that unlike in Houston, where it took officials an entire day to convert inbound freeway lanes into additional outbound lanes, Interstates 5, 15 and 8 could quickly be turned into one-way escape routes.

"That could be done in a matter of hours," Revelle said. "That's our plan. All they (Highway Patrol) would have to do is stop traffic, and all our agencies would come together to block off (some) freeway entrances."

California Department of Transportation officials said they have 400 maintenance employees in the county, 80 of whom are emergency "first responders" who could also help with freeway traffic management.

Highway Patrol officials said they would work with the media, the state transportation department, and through aerial surveillance to coordinate a mass exodus.

Single lanes to allow traffic coming into San Diego County would likely be left open so that medical support and supplies could be brought from outside the county to help those trying to get out.

However, there is no guarantee as to just how smoothly any massive evacuation would work, and whether it would be any more effective than in Texas, where panicky evacuees jumped on freeways at the same time, jamming roads.

"We haven't ever done a study," Asturias said. "I think it's doable. But who knows how long it would take?"

Herman Reddick, assistant director for the county's Office of Emergency Services, said it depends upon the public.

"As long as citizens follow the directions given by public safety personnel, it should be able to be accomplished efficiently," he said. "If they don't follow the directions provided, then you get into situations where it would not be as efficient as it could be."

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.

[Xelebes]

Edmonton:

Tornado: Emergency television broadcast, Emergency radio broadcast - if Tornado starts going into the city, probably have the firetrucks start blaring their sirens.

Flood:

Deluge (i.e. water soaks water table high): Fire trucks sent out and rescue-hovercraft brought up from the river to trouble spots.

Wash (i.e. River overflows the banks): People walk/run up the hill. There's never been a serious flood where we've had to do more except for a flood in 1915 where a coal train was needed to sit atop the High Level Bridge.

City-fire:

Series of fire alarms can be brought up to the maximum of a 25-alarm. We also have a few other neighbouring city and county fire departments if the need is that high.

Blizzard:

The city usually does not shutdown for blizzards. However, there has been one anomolous case in 1969 where the city was in fact paralyzed. For a present day scenario, this is one of the greatest challenges we can face. If electricity or natural gas shuts down, a blizzard can be most certainly deadly. Trick is to keep power and gas company staff on-alert and to have snowplows on the constant run to clear the major thoroughfares.


There is no need for an evacuation plan, really. If there is a need to evacuate (aliens attack?), we'd all run to Saskatchewan or Calgary.

[LordMandeep]

i wonder i would assume the 401 in Toronto can't be forced to go one way, man that would be a mess.....almost apocalyptic.. 16-20 lanes of traffic going one way...

I assume an easy way is to funnel everyone in the south end of the city down the Gardiner and the QEW and from the lake.


Everyone in the North end would head up the 400 and the 401.

People IN the East and West end would east or west from the 401.

Really if it snows 10 cm here the city is at a standstill and if it snows 20-30 cm, you can assume chaos would be erupt.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by LordMandeep

i wonder i would assume the 401 in Toronto can't be forced to go one way, man that would be a mess.....almost apocalyptic.. 16-20 lanes of traffic going one way...

I assume an easy way is to funnel everyone in the south end of the city down the Gardiner and the QEW and from the lake.


Everyone in the North end would head up the 400 and the 401.

People IN the East and West end would east or west from the 401.

Really if it snows 10 cm here the city is at a standstill and if it snows 20-30 cm, you can assume chaos would be erupt.

If something big were to happen that would prompt an evacuation for Toronto, it would likely be an accident at the Pickering nuclear facility, which means people in the city will be heading north and west. The 401 is busy enough as is and so is the 400. The 404 only goes so far so there aren't really that many viable routes for an evacuation.

[LordMandeep]

yep if you live Scarborough your screwed....

[Tymel]

I live in new york suburb of Long island. I live on an island, theres only 2 ways out bridge or ferry, so when the big hurricane comes imma be stuck in traffic with all 8+ million people of nyc leaving and there grandmas everyones most likely going to stay home and my towns going to go under water.. FUN

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by Tymel

I live in new york suburb of Long island. I live on an island, theres only 2 ways out bridge or ferry, so when the big hurricane comes imma be stuck in traffic with all 8+ million people of nyc leaving and there grandmas everyones most likely going to stay home and my towns going to go under water.. FUN

They've been talking a lot about a big hurricane is going to hit New York, but is that very likely though being so far north? Maybe the odds are one in a few decades?

[hkskyline]

DC Area
Region's disaster plans boosted
7 September 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) - Officials in the D.C. area are beefing up their disaster plans.

The regional evacuation plan will be the most extensive since the Cold War -- with maps of escape routes, stockpiles of bedding for shelters and designated pickup points for people who don't have cars.

The move comes after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the area's preparations for major disasters were insufficient. Officials said there were problems in coordinating response, evacuation, medical care and the release of information to the public.

The regional evacuation plan is due out this fall. Northern Virginia recently drew up a detailed blueprint. The D.C. area has spent about $3 million in the past year on blankets, cots and prepared meals.

The region's leaders also are talking to West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other nearby states about shelter for Washington area residents during a crisis. Congress is expected to give the region millions of dollars in coming months for such planning.

[hkskyline]

Five Asian nations to study flood, climate risks

OSLO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A new U.N. course will help five Asian nations cope with a predicted worsening of floods due to climate change that may threaten cities from Beijing to Hanoi, the U.N. University said on Sunday.

Experts from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal and Sri Lanka would take part from November in a three-month course run by the U.N. University in Thailand to help map risks of downpours, rivers breaking their banks and rising sea levels.

If successful, the course could be expanded to other regions.

"Catastrophic floods may become much more common," Srikantha Herath, senior academic officer at the U.N. University in Tokyo, told Reuters. "Asia suffers most from floods of all the regions and we want to prepare for what may happen."

The courses, gathering two-four experts from each nation, would identify risks of floods, potential economic damage, and help work out everything from better designs for dykes to better weather forecasts and flood warnings.

Flooding linked to monsoon rains killed more than 3,000 people and affected more than 100 million people in south Asia this year with damage to property estimated in the billions of dollars, the U.N. University said.

Many cities such as Beijing could be flooded under certain storm conditions, it said. Global warming, mainly blamed on human burning of fossil fuels that releases greenhouse gases, is likely to be making matters worse.

The course would examine examples such as a 1991 storm in the Philippines that dumped 50 cm (20 inches) of rain in six hours on Ormoc City, the Philippines, killing 5,000 people.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, caused by an earthquake, highlighted other flood risks unrelated to climate change.

"The time to assess the risk to people and property, especially in large urban centres, and to act on that information is now," said Janos Bogardi, the vice rector of the U.N. University which groups academics around the world.

The courses might also be of interest in rich nations, especially after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans in the United States in 2005.

Studies by the U.N.'s climate panel, awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Friday, project more floods, more powerful storms and a rise in sea levels of up to 59 cms (two feet) this century.

Among ideas are that cities should have systems that would, for instance, channel flood waters that topped dykes into low-lying parks or other areas where it would do least damage, Herath said. And a small ramp or a couple of steps up from street level around stairs down to metro stations could help protect subways.

[hkskyline]

Heat may kill hundreds of New Yorkers
10 October 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of heat-related deaths in and around New York City will nearly double by 2050 - and could rise as high as 95 percent -- due to global warming, if no efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a new study shows.

"All kinds of households in the region might want to think about what global warming and greenhouse gas emissions might mean for their quality of life in the not-too-distant future," Dr. Kim Knowlton of Columbia University in New York City, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

By taking steps now to cut emissions, New Yorkers could prevent 300 of these expected deaths annually, Knowlton says. "We can save lives by taking progressive action now to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. That's the good news."

Knowlton and her colleagues used a computer model to estimate temperature increases in New York City and its environs by 2050 based on two scenarios, one representing rapid population growth and lack of "aggressive" greenhouse regulation, the other based on slower growth and "increased concerns about environmental sustainability."

By 2050, heat-related deaths would increase by 95 percent a year based on the worst-case, high-emissions scenario, a figure reduced to 68 percent when the researchers accounted for acclimatization to the heat with increased air conditioning, heat alerts and other adaptations. Under the lower emissions projection, deaths would increase by 71 percent, or 47 percent with acclimatization.

Knowlton and her colleagues found a dramatic variation in expected mortality increases across the region, ranging from 38 percent to 208 percent. The smallest increases would be seen in the more urban parts of the region, such as within the city itself and in the New Jersey suburbs to the west, which are already relatively warm and will experience smaller temperature increases.

But deaths could skyrocket in the suburban and rural New York and Connecticut counties north of the city, which are currently relatively cool.

"The urban areas, the suburbs, and the countryside are all going to be affected by these hotter temperatures," Knowlton said. No matter where they live, she added, poor people will likely have a tougher time coping with rising temperatures, given that many may not have air conditioning, or may be reluctant to use it due to electrical costs.

According to Knowlton, the best and fairest approach to reducing excess heat deaths due to global warming will be to introduce strong regulation of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible. "That kind of regulation is going to afford us the strongest prevention in an equitable way."

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, September 2007.

[LordMandeep]

we could all jump in the lake or sit on top of the Go train...

[gabrielbabb]

In mexico city as therre are more than 7 degrees earthquakes about every 5 years we have made evacuation systems and a macrosimulation by evacuating 5 million people from schools and many office buildings and many homes to try to avoid accidents and building destruction with people inside on the great earthquakes

[-Corey-]

San Diego is experiencing a mandatory evacuation for many cities, 300,000 were evacuated and 190,000 people are under evacuation order.. almost 500,00 people, is the largest evacuation in San Diego's history because of the ..

Evacuees of California wildfires set up shelter in the hallway of Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, October 22, 2007. Fast-moving wildfires raged across Southern California on Monday, forcing at least 300,000 people to flee.

[hkskyline]

Jakarta to host crisis management conference
23 October 2007
The Jakarta Post

Rapid urbanization in Asia has resulted in the region's large cities being more prone to crises resulting from both natural and man-made disasters.

In response to this situation, The Asian Network of Major Cities (ANMC21) in 2003 held the first of what would become annual Asian Crisis Management Meetings.

This year's meeting, to be hosted by the Jakarta administration from Oct. 24 to 25, has been themed "Damage Mitigation and Maintenance of Major Cities' Primary Services in a Disaster".

Representatives from Bangkok, Delhi, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Yangon are scheduled to attend the meeting.

The first day of the conference will include presentations from several of the city's agencies concerning public order, public infrastructure and fire-fighting, as well as presentations from ANMC21 representatives.

Delegates will visit the city's crisis center at the City Hall, the Meteorology and Geophisics Agency (BMG) and the Fire Department Training Center on the second day of the conference.

At past conferences, issues such as urban disasters and terrorism were focal points.

The network's fourth conference held in Singapore last year focused on "new threats" such as terrorism, while delegates at the network's third conference in Seoul predominately discussed fires.

The most common disasters to strike Asia in recent years have been earthquakes, floods and fires.

In developing cities, the impact of disasters is often exacerbated by a lack of urban planning and facilities.

"We expect to learn a lot from the experiences of other cities," the head of Indonesia's Inter-city Cooperation Bureau Aisa Tobing said.

Jakarta's recent efforts to manage and prevent crisis situations have been seen as substandard by many, with floods continuing to hit the city year after year.

Aging fire departments and trucks have contributed to the city's poor record in fire prevention and management in recent years.

Last week the city's fire department told new Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo that more personal and fire trucks were required.

The governor promised to look into greater funding for the department.

Last year there were more than 900 fires in the city, the majority of which started in densely populated areas according to data from the city's fire department.

Between January and September this year some 680 fires had already been reported in the city.

[hkskyline]

UK draws dirty bomb lessons from Litvinenko murder

LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The polonium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko tested Britain's response to a radiation emergency and made clear it would need international help to deal with a "dirty bomb" attack, a top health adviser says.

Nigel Lightfoot, chief adviser to the head of the Health Protection Agency (HPA), said Britain would work closely with European Union and G7 partners in response to such an attack, and some patients might even be treated in France.

In a Reuters interview, he expanded on a recent speech in which he said "no country is going to be able to cope by itself" with a dirty bomb.

He also said that whoever handled the polonium that killed Litvinenko a year ago appeared ignorant of its properties, particularly the ease with which it would leak out and form a radioactive trail across London.

An ex-KGB agent who had become a harsh emigre critic of the Kremlin, Litvinenko died in London on Nov. 23 last year, three weeks after being poisoned. Russia has denied allegations of a state-backed murder plot and refused British demands to extradite chief suspect Andrei Lugovoy, also a KGB veteran.

The Cold War-style episode sparked a public health alert as radiation traces were found at dozens of sites including hotels, restaurants, offices, on planes and at Arsenal's soccer stadium.

Over 750 people were tested for exposure to the rare element. More than 130 were found to have come into probable contact with it, but only 17 at levels that might cause a very slight increase in their long-term risk of getting cancer.

"With a dirty bomb, you'll find there will be more people exposed and requiring screening," Lightfoot said.

"It's become clear to most of us internationally, working through all this in international planning, that we'd all have to work together and help each other."

In a dirty bomb, radioactive material is packed alongside conventional explosives and dispersed on detonation. Security officials have long feared such a device could be attractive to terrorists because of the potential for panic and disruption.

BOMB SCENARIO

A 2005 disaster planning paper by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security considered a scenario in which three dirty bombs went off in nearby cities. At each site, it estimated 180 fatalities, 270 injuries and up to 20,000 people contaminated. The economic impact could be "up to billions of dollars".

Lightfoot said some patients might be treated in other countries after a dirty bomb attack in Britain, though this would be for recovering patients, not those needing acute care.

"You might want to think about moving patients to somebody else's facilities," he said, citing France as an example. "Why not? They've got a very big radiation hospital in Paris."

Lightfoot said the amount of polonium that killed Litvinenko was like "a few grains of salt on your nail". He is believed to have drunk it in a cup of tea he was served when meeting two Russians at a London hotel on Nov. 1 last year.

He fell ill immediately, but it took three weeks to diagnose internal radiation poisoning as the former security agent lay dying in agony in a London hospital.

Lightfoot rejected criticism from security experts who questioned at the time how authorities would deal with a larger-scale radiation incident.

Radiation from a dirty bomb would immediately be detected through equipment carried by emergency services, he said.

More insidious would be an "emplacement device", in which a source of radiation was left in a public place. In that case, he said, it could take days before patients began reporting radiation burns or other symptoms of poisoning.