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1. Getting Out Before the Big One Hits: an assessment of collaboration within the evacuation route planning process UA805 – Boston Symposium May 9, 2011 Brian Magee Patrick Sullivan Shang Liu Thad Soule

2. Boston

4. The Role of inter-governmental Communication and Collaboration in Evacuation Planning “[Evacuation plans] cannot each stand alone and succeed. We need to ensure that the plans are fully integrated, that the expectations of one jurisdiction merge with another, and that the state, through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), is able to understand and assist in those efforts.” The Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Homeland Security Strategy, 2007

5. Problem

6. Insert Houston Evac MapExtract from PDF

7. VisionInsert Boston Metro Map

9. What Works in Other Places?

10. What Works? “Information sharing and inter-agency coordination are clearly needed to facilitate a successful emergency incident response…”

11. What Doesn’t work…

12. Metropolitan Boston Evacuation Route Planning Setting

13. Challenges to creating regional collaboration in Boston

14. Municipal Government Structure in MA “In most states, county governments allocate resources to smaller jurisdictions under its umbrella. But with country government all but dismantled in the Bay State, it’s difficult to orchestrate a regional approach to disaster management…” - Interview with MEMA Director Peter Judge, MEMA Public Information Officer

15. ???

16. Theoretical Framework “risk assessment and risk reduction are predictably and intensely political” (Lewis, 2000) The quality of local emergency preparedness varies widely and this variance reflects differences in a capacity to coordinate (Kettl, 2003) Two greatest influences on building emergency management capacity: Severity and geography of a disaster incident Strength of collaboration prior to the incident (Norris-Tirrell & Clay, 2006)

17. “collaboration can be understood as a consciously chosen tool to build emergency management capacity” Norris-Tirrell and Clay, Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, Spring 2006.

21. Regional Planning Coordination Metro Boston Cities/Towns

22. Findings Our research supports current theories that advocate for collaborative planning in emergency management planning and specifically for regional evacuation route planning Our framework expands the application of collaborative planning by using state leadership as an administrative backbone for metropolitan areas lacking local regional government leadership

23. Thank You