Planning emergency shelter locations based on evacuation behavior

This study investigates the challenges of emergency shelter location planning during disaster events. Previous research has been hindered by the inability to consider both the service capacity and the mobility of the road network and by the lack of a method for assigning evacuees to emergency shelters after a disaster causes road closures. This study proposes a framework for the use in a developed catchment to determine where to locate safe and convenient emergency shelters based on evacuation behavior. The model uses space syntax and road-closure indices based on mobility-based evacuation to produce a safety and mobility of the road-network index using geographic information systems. The results describe four regional evacuation areas: isolated islands, deliberate evacuation areas, temporary settlements, and local disaster preparedness areas. This study contributes to an integrated framework for the equitable distribution of emergency shelters and provides insights into evacuation planning practices. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015