Volume 10, Issue 2

Today’s travelers are able to access real-time traffic information through a variety of options, such as variable message signs and in-vehicle global positioning systems that can receive real-time traffic information. It is important to take into account this technological improvement in modeling emergency evacuations. This research focuses on investigating no-notice or short-notice emergency evacuations necessitated by nuclear power plant accidents. Different from previous studies, the impact of providing real-time traffic information and en-route drivers’ rerouting behavior is explicitly modeled in this research. A case study is conducted that considers various traffic information dissemination strategies. The results suggest that real-time traffic information can play an important role in expediting the evacuation process.

The overarching goal of this study was to understand and quantify the level of implementation of Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) among community hospitals. Three hypotheses were developed for this study: (1) more than 50% of surveyed accredited hospitals are aware of CFATS; (2) <30% of hospitals are in compliance with CFATS; and (3) the accreditation process is conducive to CFATS compliance. Community hospitals in the western United States were randomly surveyed for CFATS awareness and compliance. Statistical analyses of the survey data were performed to test the hypotheses and examine possible data correlation. The results indicated that at least 50% of accredited large and medium hospitals were aware of CFATS, and more than 50% of small hospitals were aware of CFATS. The survey results also showed that, with the exception of Alaska, most states in the western US had compliance rates significantly <30%. Although the survey results revealed that there was no significant difference between accredited and non-accredited community hospitals when comparing the level of compliance, an opportunity exists for voluntary hospital accreditation agencies to include CFATS as part of the emergency preparedness accreditation process to increase the CFATS compliance level among community hospitals.

Prevention and preparedness of risks in railway transportation systems is crucial for homeland security and require, among other things, a proper analysis of the vulnerabilities of the assets, a clear awareness of criticalities, possible countermeasures and adequate methods to design, scale and optimize the protection. To this end, in this paper we present an analysis of various security incidents and terrorist attacks that took place from 1972 to 2011; all involving railway infrastructures. All of the collected information has been stored in a database, aptly named RISTAD (Railway Infrastructure Systems Terrorist Attacks Database). Specifically, this research focuses on railway assets in order to identify those environmental, architectonic and infrastructural aspects that make such targets more “attractive” from a criminal point of view. We analyzed about 540 criminal-related episodes utilizing open source documents in an effort to correlate the acts with the peculiar characteristics of the asset. The last section is specifically focused on stations, attempting to emphasize both interesting and, for some aspects, non-intuitive correlation among collected data (e.g., lethality and number of attacks as a function of the number of tracks, the number of daily passengers, station extension, presence and type of security systems, etc.).

Technology usage, geographic information systems in particular, has been steadily increasing in the public sector over the past 30 years. During this time, policy makers have shifted attention away from the implementation of technology towards understanding the characteristics of organizational cultures in efforts to establish more effective and efficient technological approaches in response to disaster situations. Geographic information systems (GIS) deliver pertinent spatial data in a visually appealing and effective manner. A multidisciplinary team participated in a research effort to identify the differing aspects of GIS in disaster situations. Research findings are provided along with future implications and recommendations for understanding organizational cultures; a necessary step for increasing the effectiveness of first response agencies during the numerous phases of emergency operations. Detailing the initial steps of the learning process, this article lays the groundwork for future research efforts.

The influx of supplies after disaster events helps to meet the emergent needs of the impacted area and fill gaps in logistical plans. This same materiel convergence, however, can present a challenging social problem. Organizations must contend with difficulties in supply acquisition, reception, transport, storage, and distribution. In this paper, we use Hurricane Katrina, which impacted the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005, as a case study to test whether Enrico L. Quarantelli’s six characteristics of catastrophe generate unique relief provision challenges. Qualitative analysis of interviews with key organizational actors in the response effort revealed that the six characteristics did influence the manifestation of the social problem. Analysis also revealed a seventh catastrophe characteristic: mass and extended out-migration of people.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Port Security Grant Program (PSGP) allocates federal funding to maritime critical infrastructure and key resources (MCIKR) to reduce terrorist attack risk. The PSGP currently emphasizes protecting against attacks, before they happen. However, for the last several years the trend in critical infrastructure risk analysis has been resilience. Resilience often includes examining how a system can restore after a disruption, as opposed to only examining how to prevent disruptions. Accordingly, PSGP policy has evolved to emphasize resilience but with no clear guidance on how to implement a resilience-based approach. This paper therefore discusses considerations to help PSGP stakeholders. First it explains why MCIKR should be modeled as components of supply chains. It then explains why the current mathematical theory underpinning the PSGP is insufficient for a resilience-based, network-focused PSGP. This paper then explores risk-based and network interdiction theories and modeling options that could be leveraged to support allocation of PSGP grants in order to influence supply chain resilience. It proposes a conceptual solution that leverages principles from both approaches, and offers definitions of quantifiable resilience. This proposed solution allows the quantification of deterrence effects of resilience-based grant allocations. Finally, it offers specific recommendations for PSGP stakeholders.

Timely and adequate communication is essential for the response to emergency situations. The current vision on emergency response embraces the networked organization as an answer to the dilemmas of communication and information flows in crisis situations. With stabilization of the network paradigm, the focus question turns into how networks are perceived and in what manner they function. We argue that there is a need to attend to the way networks and their functioning are assessed. From the agenda that we derive, we pay attention to the manner in which the time critical nature of the communication during emergency situations can be captured in network terms. The focus on how network interaction unfolds over time is demonstrated by attending to a case of a tunnel incident in the Netherlands. It is argued that a structure-oriented network analysis misses much of the actions and that using the data to probe the communication patterns with additional methods for time dependency enhances our insights. Three approaches, time slices, two-mode analysis and information pathways, are then introduced and the outcomes are interpreted.

When power fails, deaths and injuries do occur. The numbers are usually very small unless the loss of critical infrastructure service continuity occurs simultaneously with some other hazardous event such as a heatwave. This paper uses a systematic review of literature to identify how people die from a loss of electricity or gas in a community setting. Nineteen plausible causal trains of events, known as energy service continuity death modes, are identified where an energy loss is the harm mechanism closest to the underlying cause of death. A number of these death modes are well recognised, but others are rarely noted. These death modes are those that arise in a domestic environment, rather than those that arise from a loss of energy continuity to industrial, medical and other facilities as these have unique death modes. The consolidated, evidence-backed list of plausible energy service continuity death modes presented in this paper will be valuable to emergency response organisations tasked with protecting public safety during energy loss incidents. By examining the list, these organisations can take a more comprehensive and anticipatory approach to preventing deaths.

This article examines impacts of an international event on the business community in Frederick County, MD. The 2012 G8 summit drew 14 world leaders to central Maryland for meetings that took place on May 18–19, 2012. The study shows the full spectrum of the event as it unfolded from the point of view of the business owner. In-depth interviews with business owners revealed six themes related to: (1) Information Sources and Use, (2) Business Insurance, (3) Adaptive Response Measures, (4) Business Impacts, (5) Small vs. Large Businesses, and (6) Demonstrators – Thurmont, MD. The article confirms many previous research findings about businesses in disasters. It includes findings in each of the six themes. These include the importance of social networks as information sources and influences on adaptive response actions, the limits of business insurance as an influence on the implementation of adaptive response actions, general preparedness and business size, and the positive personal impact of a peaceful protest on business owners in Thurmont, MD. The study recommends continued emergency management outreach for the development of general business preparedness, particularly among small businesses. In addition, it recommends governments develop specific coordinated information strategy for businesses in large-scale events.

In order to understand gaps in bioterrorism training, we surveyed 70 first responders about their training for an anthrax event. A total of 82.6% of participants had some training, but most were trained on-site by someone from their facility. Internet-based training was rarely employed and may be an under-utilized resource. Participants were fairly confident about most of their skills and training, but a plurality was not comfortable with the use of on-scene testing devices or responding to an outdoor release. Efforts to assess first responder knowledge of dispersion in both the indoor and outdoor environment suggest that first responders may underestimate the spread of anthrax. For an indoor release, 58% did not think that other parts of the building would be affected and 3% thought no environmental decontamination was needed even in the room of the release. In fact, 15% thought they could put their personal protective gear on inside the building (as actually happened in 2001) when experience has shown these areas are contaminated. In the outdoor environment downwind transport was underestimated and cross-wind transport overestimated.