Hurricanes: Their Nature and Impacts on Society - Climate Science ...

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HURRICANES: THEIR NATURE AND IMPACT ON SOCffiTY
TrHE DELINEATING SCHEDULE (TDS)
An Overview
Government plays a major role in protecting life <strong>and</strong> property from
both natural <strong>and</strong> technological hazards by developing emergency
operat~on plans to gu~de a commun~ty's response to <strong>and</strong> recovery from
disasters or emergencies. But just as a comprehens~ve plan requ~res
a zoning ordinance <strong>and</strong>/or a development st<strong>and</strong>ards ord~nance to
implement pol~c~es govern~ng a community's growth <strong>and</strong> development, so
too does an emergency plan requ~re a tool to steer the compl~cated
dec~s~on-mak~ng process through a cr~sis. Such a tool must not only
clar~fy what actions should be taken <strong>and</strong> when they should be taken,
but also account for the uncertainty present under any emergency
which is caused by the particular characteristics of the threateninghazards.
The tool which enables decision makers to implement the emergency
plann~ng effort in Lee County is called the Time Delineating Schedule
or TDS. Developed by Lee County, TDS prov~des a step-by-step process
to tr~gger actions by decision-makers in preparat~on for, response
to, <strong>and</strong> if required, recovery from an emergency or disaster. It
accomplishes this by defining ten distinct time periods that describe
key phrases or objectives of the emergency. These phases, which are
presented in the flow chart <strong>and</strong> an explanat~on on the preceding
pages, descr~be a logical sequence to follow for implement~ng actions
according to prescribed needs <strong>and</strong> priorities.
Specific actions are ass~gned to each phase that are designed not
only to meet the intended objectives for that phase, but also to lay
the foundation for the next set of act~ons requ~red to meet the
objectives of
<strong>and</strong> implement
the
those
following
actions
phase. Dec~sion-makers
that must, or can be
review, analyze
taken based on the
threatening hazard's extent <strong>and</strong> magnitude, <strong>and</strong> on such constraints as
the hazard's speed of onset. Because each phase <strong>and</strong> its actions
serve as a bu~lding block for succeeding phases, TDS provides the
decision-maker with a timetable for completing actions, while
reducing the possib~lity of not implementing an action that may delay
or h~nder another act~on from taking place later on in the emergency.
The TDS concept consists of a manual describing the time delineating
process, recommended actions for each phase, <strong>and</strong> a status of action
checklist. Although originally designed for the hurricane threat,
TDS can be used in other emergency situations by modifying the time
frame for each phase according to the hazard's characteristics <strong>and</strong>
length of the warn~ng period.
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