1. Organizing the planning

Before the actual start of the planning takes place it is important to recognize who should be involved in the planning process. Research has demonstrated a huge added value of involving appropriate stakeholders since they bring with them an amount of experience and knowledge that might be useful for planning an organization.

• The identification of functional involvement in the planning and evacuation process.
• Assessment of possible evacuation planning zones and identification of elements at risk and theirowners/operators.
• Assessment whether the available data is sufficient and of good enough quality to be used in decision making.

There is a requirement for forward planning and risk assessment when it comes to evacuation. This would focus on the actions that need to be done during an evacuation and would compare them with the amount of resources available. The goals would be:

• To understand at what point a disaster turns into a crisis and external help is deemed to be necessary.
• To understand what tasks and activities need to be carried out and how these should be priorities under different circumstances.

2. Designing the plan

In this stage the actual emergency plan is designed. The previous stage should have provided a clear idea of the responsibilities of different actors in the process.

A service that allows for forward& planning and risk assessment to be carried out. Such a service would focus on the total demand and list of actions that need to be done during an evacuation and would compare them with the amount of resources available within the area of research.

The goals would be:

• To understand at what point a disaster turns into a crisis and external help is deemed to be necessary.
• To understand what tasks and activities need to be carried out and how these should be priorities under different circumstances.

Data on people to evacuate and the resources available are deemed to be necessary in this stage.

3. Pre-flood preparedness

This will determine the level of flood awareness and is likely to influence whether people receive official (or unofficial) warnings and how they act on them. People who have had previous experience of flooding may extend or reduce the time between warning and evacuation, depending on the level of the previous flood and their understanding of the warning codes.

To deliver an evacuation message containing the main evacuation routes, description of safe havens and a description on how to behave during an evacuation to the affected inhabitants. This message should be differentiated according to the situation of the inhabitants regarding risk, evacuation routes and safe areas and shelter place.

An inventory of large buildings, that provide enough basic facilities, to shelter the people who have been evacuated for a certain period of time. An inventory also needs to be made of nearby suppliers of necessary material for sheltering people (beds, linen, sanitary equipment, food, and drinks)
Awareness and preparedness of staff of the involved authorities and services can be increased and maintained by regular exercises. An important role of these services is to emphasise the coordination
among different organizations with different roles. Exercises should be held at different levels, ranging from the practical implementation of traffic control to strategic consultations between the highest representatives of the organisation. To implement higher level exercises flooding and evacuation scenarios are required as an input.

There is a need to deliver an evacuation message during a flood emergency containing the main evacuation routes, description of shelters, and a description on how to behave during an evacuation.

4. Flood emergency stage

a) Recognition of critical situation

The physical parameters of the flood define the emergency, and the official recognition of an emergency defines the response. The depth of water and velocity of the flow are just two of the factors upon which a decision about the seriousness of a flood and evacuation may be made, whether by an official or by the individual householder.

During the flood there is a requirement for the following:

• Information on the likelihood of the occurrence of a flooding event
• Information on size and extent of the flood event;
• Information on possible number of casualties,
• Information on elements at risk;
• Information and characterization of a critical level, i.e. a pre-determined threshold that, if exceeded, still allows for safe clearing of an emergency planning zone.
• Damage assessment and calculation of cost of evacuation.

b) Assessment of evacuation options

Given a certain flood forecast and the estimation of the likely flood extent the availability of the various escape routes can be assessed. On this basis an assessment of evacuation options will be carried out. The results of this assessment form the basis for the decision to evacuate and for any of the actions to be taken in the rest of the process.

This is basically the same information that is required for stages 2 and 4 (i.e. the flood extent and the state of the road network).

An assessment of the evacuation options needs to be made including :

• The risks associated with various evacuation options;
• Identification of safe areas and shelters;
• An inventory of auxiliary transportation that can be used and called upon;
• Identification of collection points.

c) Decision to act upon critical situation

The development of the source of risk (e.g. floodwater depths and velocities) needs to be monitored. After recognizing a critical situation and its potential development over time, the decision is taken to evacuate.

5. Evacuation (leaving home)

Whether or not people evacuate in a structured manner (i.e. on recommended routes, using recommended transport modes, to recommended shelter zone) will depend on whether an official evacuation recommendation is given, and how much guidance is provided to assist evacuees in their decision-making.

• A list of addresses that need to be reached
• A message containing information on collection points, routes and shelters.
• Instructions for how to behave during an evacuation for the public
• Registration system for determining the end of evacuation.

An acccurate and concise list that provides details of the number of people to be transported, their locations within the emergency planning zone and their destination. The eventual evacuation plan needs to be disseminated to the proper authorities and proper traffic management needs to be implanted on the basis of this plan.

6. Emergency shelter

The official response at the scene will direct those affected towards the official rest centres or reception centres that have been set up by teams coordinating response. Clearly this necessitates good liaison and communication between all those involved, but in particular between the official responders and those coordinating that response across different local authority departments. For some, emergency response terminates when householders reach the rest centre, whereas for many the disaster may only just have become apparent at this stage. Communication and coordination between those involved in the response and the public is paramount at the rest centre.

An inventory of large buildings, that provide enough basic facilities, to shelter the people who have been evacuated for a certain period of time. An inventory also needs to be made of nearby suppliers of necessary material for sheltering people (beds, linen, sanitary equipment, food, and drinks)

An inventory of large buildings that provide enough basic facilities to shelter the evacuees is required.

A list of suppliers of materials such as beds, linen, showers, food, and drinks is also useful.

7. The return

There may need to be temporary accommodation between emergency and return. A coordinated reentry process is paramount, with appropriate social and technical support.

There is a need to assess risk continuously in the emergency planning zone so that it can be established at what point in time the area is safe enough to return to.

The same service that delivers the assessment of risk in the first stages of a disaster could in theory also deliver the same service in this stage. This means that a continuous assessment of risk in the emergency planning zone is needed in order to know at what point in time the area is safe enough to return to.

8. Debriefing

At the end of an evacuation is it necessary for the stakeholders to evaluate the result of the evacuation and their respective contributions to it. This is regarded as extremely important since it allows organizations to improve themselves and their actions.