ENM 2014 - Symposium on Evacuation Network Modeling and Emerging Data Needs

Globally, natural hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods are occurring frequently in recent years, cause substantial damage to property and deaths. For instance, the average annual fatalities related to hurricanes increased to 116 between 2001 and 2010, which ranks hurricane as one of the deadliest natural hazards. The 2005 hurricane season and the 2010 Sichuan earthquake highlighted the critical role of evacuation in hurricane prone areas. For example, a great number of people were stuck in gridlock on the Houston freeways during Hurricane Rita; if their routes had run parallel to surge-prone bays, they would face significant danger. Many actors are involved in these evacuations and they require a clear understanding of the evacuee behavior and network conditions. Emergency officials require a detailed understanding of the determinants of evacuation behavior so they can plan appropriately.
The current practice for evacuation for short-notice disasters, such as hurricanes, evacuation management agencies usually identify alternate evacuation routes depending on the expected spatial?temporal trajectories of the disaster prior to the evacuation. This mini-symposium will discuss emerging models for evacuation specifically network wide dynamic simulation models, activity based models, agent based simulation frameworks and emerging data needs based on social media tools. Recent results from a large hurricane evacuation study in Miami-Dade will be presented. Challenges and open research questions related to evacuation will be documented at the end of this symposium which will provide clear directions for research for the community.