Emergency mapping in grassroots America: a derailment evacuation case study

Abstract Maps are essential tools in emergency planning for technological disasters and for efficient coordination of emergency responses during a crisis. The degree of map use by emergency personnel and evacuees during a derailment crisis in rural Pennsylvania was investigated through on-site observation and the administration of questionnaires. Decision makers lacked appropriate maps. Evacuees employed only mental maps in their withdrawal movements. Crude site sketch maps became critical tools in managing the hazards and communicating the risks during this technological disaster. A new genre of emergency maps, or crisis mapping, offers a practical method for handling the spatial aspects of responses to random technological disasters.