Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers (2011)

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33 BReAKOuT SeSSION Extreme Events Mobility and Safety Issues for Women and Children in Times of Crisis Marsha Anderson Bomar, Street Smarts, Inc., Presiding Pamela Murray-Tuite, Virginia Polytechnic and State University Beverly Ward, University of South Florida evangeline Franklin, New Orleans Health Department Marsha Anderson Bomar presided over the extreme events session, which focused on the impact of women’s family responsibilities on evacuation in major extreme events. The discussion included lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. impaCTs of family responsibiliTies and Car availabiliTy on households’ no-noTiCe evaCuaTion Time Pamela Murray-Tuite, Lisa A. Schweitzer, and Sirui Liu The family gathering phenomenon is a critical evacuation consideration. Recently, researchers have placed greater emphasis on capturing household member interactions in emergencies, but most of these efforts have not spe- cifically addressed associated gender issues. This paper examines the impact of gender-based family gathering responsibilities on family evacuation delay time from the optimal conditions for a hypothetical no-notice event during school hours. This study uses initial results of an original interview data-collection effort addressing home and work locations, pre-evacuation actions, and family gathering responsibilities, among other considerations. Many of the women with school-aged children indicated responsibility for collecting them. The effect on household evacuation time of assigning gathering responsibilities to one parent is determined using a nonlinear integer pro- gram that assigns activity chains, meeting locations, and final destinations so as to minimize household evacuation time in a multimodal transportation network. The results indicated that gender-based responsibilities resulted in a different evacuation time when the household had one vehicle that was taken to work by the father. The increase in household evacuation time when the mother had the sole responsibility for gathering the children as compared with determining the responsibilities by the optimization model depended on the number of children and the moth- er’s location. As expected, greater evacuation time was experienced when the mother was at work rather than home, and thus further from the children and more sub- ject to multiple transit schedules. Consideration of gath- ering behavior, household responsibilities, and persons dependent on transit will lead to more accurate evacu- ation models that help emergency agencies make better decisions and potentially save lives. ineQualiTy of impaCTs: women’s experienCes in exTreme evenTs Beverly G. Ward and Margarethe Kusenbach In any extreme event, the roles of women may be adversely affected by increased demands related to casework and information gathering. Of particular interest is the expe- rience of women living in mobile home parks and their mobility and access needs during extreme events. This paper explores the vulnerability of mobile home resi- dents and their ability to deal with natural disasters and other threats. experiences of persons who live in mobile homes as places of permanent residence and consider-

34 WOMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPORTATION, vOluMe 1 ation of the use of mobile homes as temporary shelter after an extreme event are considered. The study results indicate disability, income, and automobile ownership may have adverse influences on the ability of women in mobile home parks to self-evac- uate. Most respondents relied on a network of family or friends for refuge. Few respondents evacuated to shel- ters, mostly because of the lack of “special needs” or pet-friendly shelters. These findings suggest community resources in the form of institutional refuges do not meet the needs of mobile home park residents. Overall, the findings suggest extreme event planning has not taken the multiple roles of women into account. women’s ConCerns in exTreme evenTs: a Call for examinaTion of emergenCy planning, response, reCovery, and miTigaTion Evangeline Franklin evangeline Franklin, MD, Director of emergency Pre- paredness and Special Projects for the New Orleans Health Department, shared lessons learned and policy implica- tions developed as a result of the Hurricane Katrina evac- uation. A research study sponsored by the Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard univer- sity surveyed 680 randomly selected New Orleans adult evacuees in eight shelters in the Houston area between September 10 and 12, 2005. The study revealed that the lack of a car, personal immobility, care for an immobile family member, and reluctance to leave behind a pet were important reasons for remaining in the city. In response to lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, the city created the City Assisted evacuation Plan (CAeP) and a registry for carless and disabled citizens. The plan is an evacuation method of last resort used to help cit- izens who want to evacuate but lack the capability to self-evacuate. The Superdome would no longer be the shelter of last resort. The presentation focused on CAeP implementation during Hurricane Gustav on September 1, 2008, which highlighted women’s concerns such as safety for self and dependents at destination, proper food and hydration for children and the elderly, protection of female children from rape or consensual sexual activity during evacuation by train, and access to transportation during evacuations. The city of New Orleans identified three main goals in the revamp of its evacuation plans: 1. Provide greater support to citizens who need spe- cial assistance. 2. Create and maintain an environment in which the decision to evacuate becomes more desirable than remaining behind. 3. Implement measures to greatly enhance the secu- rity of city resources. TopiCs for furTher researCh 1. explore the impact of transit frequency on evacua- tion time. 2. Develop models to relocate dependents. 3. Investigate congestion effects on evacuation time. 4. Develop methods to identify and categorize indi- viduals who have special needs during evacuations. 5. Identify methods to deploy resources to address women’s needs during evacuations.