(P2-27) Simulation of Transport During a Major Incident

Abstract

Transportation capacities belong to the key factors of the response to a major incident. Available resources, both in terms of personnel and equipment, must be transported, usually by ambulances, to the incident location. In the other direction, casualties must be transported to hospitals and other health care facilities for further treatment. For this reason, the efficiency of the response is greatly determined by ambulance travel times and the ability of health care facilities to absorb large numbers of patients. We propose methods to compute the travel times to and from the incident location based on a classified road network. The methods take into account different attributes that depend on ambulance type and capacity, road quality, time of day, weather or actual traffic density. Correctly computed travel times are crucial not only for optimal deployment of all resources within the analyzed region, but also for the evaluation of the readiness of the emergency health care system for a major incident. We have included the methods in an agent-based simulation of transport during the response. From the simulation outputs and with the help of geographical information systems and information visualization methods we have synthesized maps that represent the capability of a region to absorb a major incident defined by a scenario. When combined with risk maps and maps of population density the synthesized maps allow emergency management authorities to find critical points and gaps in the emergency health care service.