November 28, 2007 - County Collecting Information About Evacuation Plans

The Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council is conducing telephone surveys this week to collect information regarding evacuation plans for the Florida Division of Emergency Management and St. Lucie County's Public Safety Department.  

Roughly 18,800 households in the Treasure Coast Region will be telephoned asking residents about their evacuation plans in the event of an emergency. Public Safety officials in St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Palm Beach counties require as much information as possible about how area residents will respond to an emergency situation so they can issue evacuation notices, effectively provide enough public shelter space and direct traffic efficiently. The results of these surveys are a critical component to successful evacuation planning. This program is a statewide effort to enhance evacuation planning and preparedness for the region.

Participating residents will be asked how they intend to respond if an evacuation becomes necessary in their community and how they have responded in past evacuations. They will also be asked whether there are any obstacles that would prevent them from evacuating.

It is extremely important for residents contacted by interviewers to participate in the survey so that accurate and representative information is gathered for each county. If an interviewer calls at an inconvenient time, they will call back at a different time to accommodate residents. Identities of individuals and households participating in the survey will be confidential.

For more information about the survey please contact Dr. Jay Baker of the Hazards Management Group, Inc. at (850) 893-8993. For information on the Treasure Coast Regional Evacuation Study please contact Kathryn Boer of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council at (772) 221-4060 or Tom Christopher, St. Lucie County Public Safety coordinator, at (772) 461-5201.