Internet-based stated response survey for no-notice emergency evacuations.

Large-scale evacuations from major cities during no-notice events - such as chemical or radiological attacks, hazardous material spills, or earthquakes - have an obvious impact on large regions rather than on just the directly affected area. The scope of the impact includes the accommodation of emergency evacuation traffic throughout a very large area and the planning of resources to respond appropriately to the needs of the affected population. Compared to events with advance notice, such as evacuations based on hurricanes approaching an affected area, the response to no-notice events relies exclusively on pre-planning and general regional emergency preparedness. In this paper we present the design, methodology and results of a survey which was conducted in order to obtain empirical data on individuals' responses to no-notice evacuation which can be used to calibrate an evacuee behavior model for planning purposes. The results of the survey show that people are more likely to evacuate if they see others evacuating and whether the evacuation ordered or recommended making little difference. When the event risk is moderate evacuees are more likely to evacuate to a shelter than when the risk is high, in this case people are more likely to evacuate to friends or family house and hotels. The area covered in the sample mostly includes the Chicago Metropolitan Area. However, we argue that the regional differences in the response to a no-notice evacuation are likely to be negligible, in contrast to advanced-notice evacuations where conditioning may occur. Thus, the results of the survey could be applicable nation-wide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]