https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE Expo
    • Calendar of Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

issue_20070101


Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs

Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs

Emergency preparedness planners will be able to better prepare individuals with special needs thanks to new open-source software developed at the U.S.
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 4th June 2007

Emergency preparedness planners will be able to better prepare individuals with special needs thanks to new open-source software developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

The new Special Population Planner software is designed as an extension to commercial Geographic Information Systems software, and is available for no charge at https://sourceforge.net/projects/spc-pop-planner.

The software provides a database for creating a list of individuals with special needs throughout a given emergency planning area. Individuals with special needs include the physically, mentally and medically disabled, those without transportation and latchkey children.

The project began in 1998 with funding from the U.S. Army under the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program for the seven areas across the country where chemical weapons are stored. These areas have emergency evacuation plans for neighboring residents, and Argonne researchers were asked to gather data and develop software to help identify and plan for individuals with special needs at the Anniston Army Depot site near Anniston, Ala. The study covered most of a six-county area with 115,000 households and 275,000 residents, of whom about 9 percent reported special needs.

The next step was to learn who these individuals are, where they are located, and what special requirements they have, said Ed Tanzman, who led the project for Argonne’s Decision and Information Sciences Division. Registrations were collected through annual direct-mail solicitations, supported by advertising and telephone contacts. In Anniston, local officials recognized that first responders would be unable to rescue every registered person in case of emergency. Instead, they decided to help make these people more self-reliant by offering them adapted protective equipment, training and services.

“Hurricane Katrina highlighted the national problem of emergency planning for persons with special needs, when a number of residents — many disabled persons or their caregivers — were trapped for days at the Superdome because of evacuation problems,” Tanzman said. “During Hurricane Rita, about three weeks later, 44 assisted-living-facility residents were being evacuated on a motorcoach when it caught fire, killing 23. These events made it clear to the public that those who are disabled and disadvantaged are at great risk during emergencies. Specialized plans are needed to help them become better able to implement such protective actions as sheltering or evacuation.

“With the U.S. Census Bureau estimating that up to 19 percent of the population is disabled,” Tanzman said, “the Army recognized a need to make this software available to all emergency planners, not just those near Anniston Army depot. Using the Argonne-developed software, emergency planners for any area can begin building a database of persons with special needs and developing emergency response or evacuation plans to accommodate them.”

The underlying ArcView GIS software is used by many emergency planning organizations for mapping and generating emergency response plans, as a way of compiling relevant data very quickly. The Argonne-developed Special Population Planner enhances that capability. More information about the Special Population Planner can be found online at www.dis.anl.gov/ep/publications/sppublications.html.

The software is also being used on an experimental basis for other special needs populations. For example, a group in Pennsylvania is using the software to build a database of Alzheimer’s disease patients in their coverage area.

The Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness (CSEP) Program is a wide-ranging activity that supports a national initiative involving the U.S. Army Chemical Materiel Command, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nine states and 37 counties. The CSEP Program was established in 1988 to enhance emergency planning for the unlikely event of a release of hazardous chemical weapons agent from one of the Army’s seven chemical weapons storage installations. These obsolete weapons are scheduled to be destroyed, but meanwhile they pose a threat to installation workers and residents of the surrounding communities in the unlikely event of a release.

In addition to the Special Population Planner, Argonne’s CSEP Program includes a variety of components that serve the needs of multiple program participants. Among the major activities are:

* Development of the Synchronization Matrix Planning Process and tool to facilitate integration of multi-jurisdictional emergency plans;
* Systemization of real-time meteorological data collection, modeling and quality control from weather towers at the Army’s storage installations;
* Preparation of guidance for creating inter-organizational and inter-jurisdictional memoranda of understanding and memoranda of agreement to enable mutual assistance and other forms of special support to emergency responders;
* Planning for and support of CSEP emergency exercises, including the development of the Exercise Management Tool;
* Development of a wide array of emergency risk communication plans and products; and
* Preparation and delivery of training programs in such areas as risk communication, emergency planning, and emergency exercises.

The program is part of Argonne’s Decision and Information Sciences Division, which has been supporting federal, state, local and tribal agencies for almost three decades. Argonne continues to develop and apply new methodologies and technologies supporting emergency preparedness. Such support has increased the capabilities of emergency managers, planners and responders to counter technological disasters, natural disasters and other emergency situations.

By using interdisciplinary knowledge, Argonne has developed and implemented new methods for systems-based emergency planning, training and emergency exercises.

The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Tags: ar issue_20070101 mag

Most Recent


  • What’s my truck worth?
    Truck Value VIN Decoding & Make/Year/Model Lookup
  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    Calendar of events
    A list of NIGP courses, conferences and webinars for NIGP members held in December 2012 and January 2013.
  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    NIGP's 67th Annual Forum and Products Exposition
    Awards presented at NIGP Forum recognized procurement professionals "reaching new heights."
  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    UPPCC new certifications
    The Universal Public Purchasing Certification Council announces that 208 individuals successfully completed the spring 2012 UPPCC certification examinations administered in May 2012.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    Number of contracting professionals on the rise
  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    FBI employee sentenced to probation for accepting cruise
  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    GSA names Brasseux deputy administrator
  • Emergency Planners to Assist People with Special Needs
    Auction delivers two-year power pact to Texas community

White papers


5 reasons why Plan Examiners need Objective Trapeze

30th May 2023

7 Permitting & Licensing Fails Slowing Community Growth

24th May 2023

The Secret Ingredient to Local Government Employee Retention

23rd May 2023
view all

Webinars


How to Centralize and Build a Grants Management Process at your Organization

24th May 2023

Making Permitting Easier: What We’ve Learned Helping America’s Largest Cities Improve Their Permitting Process

16th May 2023

Digital Property Tax Collection: Tales from the Trenches of Modernization

16th May 2023
view all

PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

GALLERIES


10 best suburbs for city-like living

1st June 2023

Gallery: Annual index ranks America’s top performing cities; most are in the West

30th May 2023

Gallery: Top 10 American cities for seasonal and summer jobs

25th May 2023
view all

Twitter


Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.