Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam
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- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Data Release: USGS data release - Pedestrian evacuation time maps, flow depth time series, and population estimates for the island of Guam tsunami evacuation zone
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Abstract
Reducing the potential for loss of life from local tsunamis is challenging for emergency managers given the need for self-protective behavior of at-risk individuals within brief windows of time to evacuate. There has been considerable attention paid to discussing the use of tsunami vertical-evacuation structures for areas where there may be insufficient time to evacuate. This strategy may not be feasible or needed for at-risk populations in island communities for multiple reasons. We examine the influence of three non-structural interventions (reducing departure delays, increasing travel speeds, and managing vegetation to create new paths) that may improve the evacuation potential for at-risk individuals in island communities and use the United States territory of Guam as our case study. We model pedestrian travel times out of a modeled inundation zone for a local tsunami generated by a Mw 8.3 earthquake within the Mariana subduction zone. Evacuation-modeling results indicate that reducing departure delays has a larger impact than increasing travel speeds or creating evacuation corridors through heavy brush on reducing the number of at-risk individuals with insufficient time to evacuate. Travel times to safety are less than wave-arrival times for almost all at-risk individuals in the tsunami-hazard zone if one assumes all three interventions are implemented.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Modeling non-structural strategies to reduce pedestrian evacuation times for mitigating local tsunami threats in Guam |
| Series title | International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103859 |
| Volume | 95 |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Contributing office(s) | Western Geographic Science Center |
| Description | 103859, 13 p. |
| Country | United States |
| Other Geospatial | Guam |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |