Disasters
Disasters Topic Guide
Disasters
Nobody is ever prepared for a disaster. From fires to hurricanes to blizzards, natural disasters and extreme weather affect every aspect of normal transit operations. This topic guide provides resources that help transit agencies plan, respond and recover from disasters.
General Information
AARP's Disaster Resilience Tool Kit, 2022
AASHTO's
Managing Catastrophic Transportation Emergencies: A Guide for Transportation Executives, 2015
California Rural Indian Health Board's Toolkit: Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing Between Tribes and Counties for Emergency Management, 2017
CUTR's The Role of Public Transit during State of Emergency Declarations Due to Natural Disasters, 2018
FEMA's Disaster Financial Management Guide: Guidance for State, Local, Tribal & Territorial Partners, 2020
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) - a cooperation framework between the United Nations, the European Commission and disaster managers worldwide
Mass Transit's Disaster Planning, Preparedness, Response and Recovery, 2017
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's An Emergency Management Playbook for State Transportation Agencies, 2024
National RTAP's Fire and Flood: Disaster Planning and Response Webinar, 2017, and START Safety Training and Rural Transit, 2018
National Transportation Knowledge Network (NTKN) Extreme Event Preparedness & Response for Operations, 2023
NCHRP's A Guide to Emergency Management at State Transportation Agencies, 2020
RHIHub's Rural Emergency Preparedness and Response, 2024
TRB's Transportation System Resilience: Preparation, Recovery, and Adaptation, 2017
Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI)'s Pandemic-Resilient Community Planning: Practical Ways to Help Communities Prepare for, Respond to, and Recover from Pandemics and Other Economic, Social and Environmental Shocks, 2021
Disaster Planning
California Rural Indian Health Board's Barriers to Collaboration Between Tribal and County Governments: Planning for Major Disasters and Other Emergencies, 2016
Capacity-Building Toolkit for including Aging & Disability Networks in Emergency Planning, a collaboration of NACCHO, ASTHO, ASPR, ACL
Maxwell Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Penn State Population Research Institute's Flood Risk is Higher in Rural and Disadvantaged Communities, 2021
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's
Leveraging Social Media Data for Emergency Preparedness and Response, 2023
National Rural Health Association's Emergency Preparedness for Rural Communities Policy Paper, 2019
Rural Health Information Hub's Rural Emergency Preparedness and Response Toolkit, 2022
NCHRP's A Guide to Regional Transportation Planning for Disasters, Emergencies, and Significant Events, 2013
TRB's Transportation Planning to the Extreme for Weather and Climate Change, 2021
Disaster Response
Center for the Commercialization of Innovative Transportation Technologies' (CCITT) Decision-Making Tools for Distribution Networks in Disaster Relief, 2011
Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Emergency Operations Center Toolkit, 2022
FTA's Response and Recovery for Declared Emergencies and Disasters, 2013 and Effective Practices in Bus Transit Safety: Emergency Response, 2018
Mass Transit's Best Practices: Emergency Response, 2019
National RTAP's Transit's Role in Emergency Response, 2024
NCCM's Integrating Emergency Management and Mobility Management, 2020
PHMSA's Emergency Response Guidebook, 2024
SURCOM's Crisis Management for Rural and Tribal Transit Providers, 2020
Think Cultural Health's Engaging Community Partners to Support Equitable Crisis Response and Recovery and Ensuring Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Crisis Communication, 2022
TCRP's Assessing and Mitigating Electrical Fires on Transit Vehicles, 2021, and Transportation for People with Disabilities and Older Adults During COVID-19: Lessons for Emergency Response, 2024
TCRP, NCHRP, and ACRP's Command-Level Decision Making for Transportation Emergency Managers, 2022
Disaster Recovery
FEMA's Community Recovery Management Toolkit, 2023
Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters: Strategies, Opportunities, and Planning for Recovery, 2015
TCRP's Improving the Resilience of Transit Systems Threatened by Natural Disasters, 2017
U.S. DOT's Recovery Management: Transportation Industry Stakeholders, 2015
DISCLAIMER: The resources provided in each topic guide are not an exhaustive survey of every available resource on each topic. If you would like to add a resource to a Topic Guide, please email info@nationalrtap.org. This document was prepared by National RTAP with the financial assistance of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The contents do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy of any agency of the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. It does not have the force and effect of law and is not meant to bind the public in any way.
Updated April 16, 2024
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