Evacuation and shelter-in-place protective actions are prompted by a variety of threats and hazards. Incident-specific circumstances drive the relevant protective actions based on a community’s demographics, infrastructure, resources, authorities, and decision-making process. Determining that an evacuation needs to take place is not an all-or-nothing approach. Lessons learned from disasters, such as hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Irma, and Maria, highlight the value of enacting a zone-phased approach to evacuation and shelter-in-place, enabling jurisdictions to move as few people as necessary. Sheltering-in-place populations that are not directly in harm’s way, rather than having them evacuate, helps jurisdictions reduce costs, resource requirements, and the negative impacts of evacuations, while promoting improved response and quicker re-entry and recovery.
The 2019 National Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA): Overview and Methodology provides an in-depth description of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) approach to completing a national-level risk assessment. The intended audience is emergency management officials engaged in risk assessment at the community and federal levels, as well as other practitioners in the private sector or academia.
This bulletin focuses on mental health and substance use issues and conditions in children and youth after human-caused disasters, such as oil spills, radiation disasters, public health emergencies, incidents of mass violence, and terrorism.
This document contains planning considerations that emergency medical services (EMS) medical directors, EMS systems planners, and hospital emergency planners should review when developing mass casualty incident plans and training programs. The focus of this paper is specifically designed to educate emergency planners on the key distinctions of no-notice, dynamic incident scenes with exceedingly large numbers of patients.
In response to the acts of targeted violence occurring in the United States, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) has published this research report. The study was conducted for the specific purpose of identifying key information that will enhance efforts to prevent these types of attacks, building on the findings identified in its 2017 report.
This document and accompanying video provides actionable guidance, sample text for a radiological dispersal device (RDD) response protocol, and annexed tools that can be used for local planning of an effective response to an RDD to protect first responders and the general public, and establish interagency coordination and integration of state and federal assets.
The Department of Defense contributes to overall U.S. health security through programs specifically aimed at countering biological threats from all sources. Public health activities are coordinated with civilian counterparts at home and abroad and through research and development of medical countermeasures aimed at protecting U.S. forces against health risks throughout the world. This report covers current capabilities and recommendations for the future.
Mass casualty incident (MCI) response is a critical focus area for the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and its member hospitals. Over the past several years, GNYHA has led collaborative planning efforts related to MCI response in coordination with government response agencies and the health care community, resulting in the development of new communication protocols and structures, and targeted training and programming.
The National Biodefense Strategy highlights President Donald Trump's commitment to protect the American people, “and establishes objectives to effectively counter threats from naturally occurring, accidental, and deliberate biological events.” This strategy is intended to guide innovation and collaboration beyond the federal government. The president is targeting this strategy for action by state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) entities, practitioners, scientists, educators, and industry.
This report is a meeting readout. It relays the sentiments of the many experts who participated but is not an exhaustive analysis of the recommendations and how they should be implemented. It is meant to lay the groundwork for the next steps, which key leaders and policymakers should consider. The information relayed herein is generally reflective of the opinions voiced at the meeting as well as the survey respondents, though any given statement should not necessarily be viewed as consensus.
The Tribal Mitigation Planning Handbook provides practical approaches and advice for tribal governments as they develop their hazard mitigation plans. The handbook is organized around the seven recommended steps for developing a tribal mitigation plan. It also provides considerations for how to implement the mitigation plan, advance mitigation activities, and incorporate risk reduction into other tribal plans and programs.
