Reasons for Evacuation

Hearing a warning that your home could be in harm's way is frightening. Unfortunately, for some people this becomes a surprising reality. Evacuation warnings are put in place for the safety and protection of those who could be in danger. Some evacuations offer time for preparation, while others leave little time to flee.

Natural Hazards

• Natural hazards can at times come with an advance warning, such as with hurricanes. Often times, though, they do not leave much preparation time to flee. Tornadoes, floods, cyclones, tsunamis and extreme hot or cold are all weather-related items that can lead to evacuations. Other natural hazards that can cause such emergency situations include natural gas leaks, eruptions of volcanoes, landslides, wildfires and mudslides.

Technological Hazards

• Technological hazards generally come with little if any warning for evacuation. Often caused by human error, these hazards can potentially cause health problems for years to come. Technological hazards can happen during the use, production, transportation, storage and disposal of chemicals. Waste sites, chemical manufacturers, hospitals and service stations are likely candidates for technological hazard developments. The two most common technological hazards are hazardous materials incidents and nuclear power plant accidents.

Terrorism

• Terrorism is a very real threat in today's society. Premeditated attacks against civilians are carried out for the purpose of frightening innocent people to create a platform for terrorists to spread their ideology. Terrorist attacks can create unsafe environments that require evacuations in the form of explosions, nuclear blasts or biological threats such as the 2001 USA anthrax scare. Chemical threats are also potential dangers; chemical warfare agents can cause seizures, shortness of breathe, nervous system effects and blisters. Chemical warfare agents come in the form of blood agents, nerve agents, blister agents, choking and metal agents. Chlorine gas, benzyne and cyanide are a few chemicals potentially used by terrorists. Radiological Dispersion Devices, or dirty bombs, are also a terrorist threat that can lead to evacuations of large areas.

Heeding the Warnings

• When evacuations are ordered it is important to heed the warnings as failure to do so can possibly result in personal injury. Some people cite having limited abilities to leave, not wanting to deal with the traffic associated with large scale evacuations and feeling as if the media "cries wolf" when telling of the danger as reasons for not wanting to evacuate. It is of the utmost importance to listen to mass media and government officials when issuing evacuation warnings. Prepare yourself and your family. Choose a meeting place and have a contact person who is preferably in a different location. Contact your local authorities if you do not have a means of evacuation as they often have methods in place to get those in need to safety.