Monitoring Unmet Needs: Using 2-1-1 During Natural Disasters

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• 作者：Sherry I. Bame ; PhD^a ; ^{sbame@tamu.edu} ; Kay Parker ; LCDC ; CIRS^k ; Jee Young Lee ; MS^a ; Alexandria Norman ; MUP^a ; Dayna Finley ; MArch^b ; Atmaja Desai ; MUP^a ; Abha Grover ; MS^c ; Courtney Payne ; MUP^a ; Andrew Garza ; MHA^d ; Ashley Shaw ; BS^e ; Robyn Bell-Shaw ; BEd^f ; Tasha Davis ; MLA^a ; Erin Harrison ; MPSA^g ; Rhonda Dunn ; PhD^h ; Pratik Mhatre ; PhDⁱ ; Frank Shaw ; BA^j ; Chester Robinson ; PhD^l
• 刊名：American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：December, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：43
• 期：6_supp_S5
• 页码：S435-S442
• 全文大小：1076 K

文摘

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Background

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast forcing unprecedented mass evacuation and devastation. Texas 2-1-1 is a disaster communication hub between callers with unmet needs and community services at disaster sites and evacuation destinations.

Purpose

To describe the location and timing of unmet disaster needs collected in real-time through Katrina-Rita disaster phases.

Methods

In 2008-2010, a total of 25 data sets of Texas 2-1-1 calls from August-December 2005 were recoded and merged. In 2011-2012, analysis was performed of unmet need types, with comparisons over time and location; mapping was adjusted by population size.

Results

Of 635,983 total 2-1-1 calls during the study period, 65 % included primary disaster unmet needs: housing/shelter (28 % ); health/safety (18 % ); food/water (15 % ); transportation/fuel (4 % ). Caller demand spiked on Mondays, decreasing to a precipitous drop on weekends and holidays. Unmet needs surged during evacuation and immediate disaster response, remaining at higher threshold through recovery. Unmet need volume was concentrated in metropolitan areas. After adjusting for population size, ¡°hot-spots¡± showed in smaller evacuation destinations and along evacuation routes.

Conclusions

New disaster management strategies and policies are needed for evacuation destinations to support extended evacuation and temporary or permanent relocation. Planning and monitoring disaster resources for unmet needs over time and location could be targeted effectively using real-time 2-1-1 call patterns. Smaller evacuation communities were more vulnerable, exhausting their limited resources more quickly. Emergency managers should devise systems to more quickly authorize vouchers and reimbursements. As 2-1-1s expand and coordinate disaster roles nationwide, opportunities exist for analysis of unmet disaster needs to improve disaster management and enhance community resiliency.