Evacuating individuals and allocating space in shelters are complex tasks that depend on disaster characteristics, roadway network
characteristics, the demographics and socioeconomic status of people in the affected region, as well as the effectiveness of the emergency
plans. This problem becomes even more challenging when special needs (access and functional needs) populations and those with pets are
considered since they may require more time in the event of an evacuation along with more space in shelters. Satisfying the needs of aging
victims during emergency evacuations is critical and requires extra attention in the presence of highly uncertain disaster conditions. During
Irma, it was very hard to manage the evacuation of aging people who had disabilities and mobility restrictions, did have special needs or
pets. This study develops a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based methodology to measure and assess the transportation accessibility
of these critical facilities through a diverse set of case study applications in the State of Florida. This research presents a timely
evaluation and assessment of aging-focused evacuations towards providing better decision support during emergency transportation operations.
This analysis is applied on a case study application set in Florida with a focus on the delays, evacuation travel times and critical
bottlenecks, which can be vital for aging victims’ safety and survival. This study also emphasizes the use of GIS-based maps and modeling
scenarios in support of emergency evacuation operations, in order to both satisfy the needs of aging people and account for real-world
disruptions such as road closures. Additionally, a variety of scenarios are constructed to simulate evacuating 65+ and 85+ populations living
in the evacuation zone, providing dynamic congested travel times. Finally, a capacitated p-median optimization model is implemented to
maximize the accessibility and capacity of the existing shelters for 85+ populations with special needs (access and functional needs) or
pets. Results indicate that the location and allocations of people to shelters are sensitive to demographics and roadway conditions, and the
accessibility to shelters can be improved for this group of people based on optimization model results. A contribution of the research will
be the evaluation of emergency evacuation performance of the transportation network under multiple disaster scenarios and the detailed
modeling of key transportation facilities where special needs would take place. By exploring the use of multi-layered approach for emergency
operations, this research will also increase the performance in evacuating aging people who has limitations. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 7, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Eren Erman Ozguven, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jeff Brown, University Representative; Ren Moses,
Committee Member; John O. Sobanjo, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_604977 |
| Contributors | Kocatepe, Ayberk (author), Ozguven, Eren Erman (professor directing dissertation), Brown, Jeff R. (university representative), Moses, Ren (committee member), Sobanjo, John Olusegun, 1958- (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Engineering (degree granting college), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (195 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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