The first formal meeting of the Subcommittee on Emergency Evacuation was held in 2002 at the 81th Annual Meeting of TRB in Washington, D.C. 30 people attended the meeting, with representatives from academia, governmental agencies and consulting firms. The intent was to create a public forum for disseminating research findings, sharing data and experiences, and stimulating new ideas related to all aspects of emergency evacuation. Moreover, it was envisioned that such a forum would facilitate the creation of new partnerships between researchers and practioners with diverse backgrounds, allowing for the conceptualization of new approaches for tackling the complex issues associated with safe, efficient, and effective emergency evacuation planning and operations.
Interest in the activities of the Subcommittee has grown enormously since its inception, fueled in part by events of this past decade, including the terrorist attacks of 2001, the tsunami in Southeast Asia of 2004 and more recent earthquakes in China and Haiti, among other large-scale disaster events. Although evacuations are viewed by some as rare and isolated events, the reality is that they are quite common. In fact, recent reviews of evacuation history have shown that, on average, an evacuation involving 1,000 or more people occurs every two weeks in the United States (U.S.) alone. This, along with continued growth of urbanized areas and increasing natural and human-made threats for which evacuation may be needed, have produced a critial need for ever greater knowledge, as well as preparedness and response capabilities.
Fueled by more than a decade of problems, need, interest, and sustained funding from various federal, state, and local transportation and emergency manegemtn agencies, the subcommittee was eleveated to a TRB task force at the 2012 Annual Meeting of TRB. Since then the taskforce has continued to graner even greater interest and has increased its level of involvement and sponsorship of activities realted to evacuation.
Existing TRB committees address various aspects of emergency evacuation by supporting related publications and presentations on an ad hoc basis when the research topic relates to the committee’s overarching mission. For example, papers and presentations associated with the use of public transportation in evacuation may be handled by the Bus Transit Systems Committee (AP050), Rail Transit Systems Committee (AP065), Light Rail Transit Committee (AP075), or Commuter Rail Transportation Committee (AP0) as fits the publication’s theme. Likewise, the Freeway Operations Committee (AHB20) might handle papers related to the use of contraflow along freeways in emergency evacuation. If the paper’s contributions, however, relate to the use of technology in implementing contraflow along freeways in emergency evacuation, the Intelligent Tranportation Systems Committee (AHB15) might handle it. The research needs associated with emergency evacuation planning and implementation span nearly all areas of study within the discipline of transportation. As such, it is typical that evacuation studies have commonality with studies undertaken in specific subdisciplines within transportation. Consequently, papers and presentations related to evacuation were handled by committees with missions related to the most relevant transportation subdiscipline. The Subcommittee on Emergency Evuacation was introduced to overcome the deficiencies of such an ad hoc and piecemeal approach to addressing evacuation. It quickly became a forum under which researchers and practitioners with interest in emergency evacuation gathered to consider the many facets of this vibrant and complex research area.
To address the need for a public venue to disseminate emergency evacuation research, the TRB Subcommitee on Emergency Evacuation (ANB10(4)) was formed under the TRB Transportation Safety Management Committee (ANB10). With a scope related to the development and coordination of safety management programs aimed at reducing death and injury on transportation systems, the TRB Transportation Safety Management Committee was chosen as a temporary home for the Subcommittee.
The objectives of the Subcommittee and Task Force on Emergency Evacuation were to support and disseminate the results of research and experience from actual evacuation operations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of operations and increase safety and convenience or comfort of those who are involved in an evacuation. As the national focal point for evacuation-related research and idea exchange, the Subcommittee and Task Force has provided a resource for various governmental agencies, private corporations, and national laboratories seeking expertise in the field to serve on projects or in advisory roles.