Abstract
Planning Emergency Responses for Persons with Special Needs
Track: Disaster Management and Emergency Response
Author(s): James Kuiper, William Metz, Edward Tanzman
In 2006, a Department of Homeland Security report concluded, based on the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina, that �substantial improvement is necessary to integrate people with disabilities in emergency planning and readiness.� In August 2008, the Federal Emergency Management Agency released more stringent guidance on emergency planning for persons with special needs. Special Population Planner (SPP) is an ArcGIS-based emergency planning system developed by Argonne National Laboratory for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and released as a free, open-source product. This paper will first cover the methods used and lessons learned in developing a registry for persons with special needs and statistics characterizing the participants. Second, aspects of SPP�s functionality will be described, including the mapping, reporting, editing, and analytical tools; linkage to models and other dynamic information sources; the documentation; and the demonstration database. Last, examples of how to reconfigure SPP for new sites will be discussed.
James Kuiper
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Avenue
Building 900/H03
Lemont , Illinois 60439-4832
United States
Phone: 630-252-6206
Fax: 630-252-3611
E-mail: jkuiper@anl.gov
William Metz
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Lemont , Illinois 60439-4832
United States
Phone: 630-252-3271
E-mail: wmetz@anl.gov
Edward Tanzman
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Lemont , Illinois 60439-4832
United States
Phone: 630-252-3263
E-mail: tanzman@anl.gov