BACKGROUND: Household preparedness can improve resilience to deal with emergencies and disasters. A community assessment was conducted to determine the current level of self-reported household emergency preparedness and evacuation planning among Travis County residents, and to provide situational awareness to public health and local emergency management officials.
METHODS: A two-stage cluster sampling methodology was used to select 210 households within Travis County, and a two page questionnaire was administrated in-person. Interviews were conducted over two days in June, 2016. Point estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using STATA.
RESULTS: Of 1,017 households canvassed, 177 (17.4%) surveys were completed. A majority, 61.9% (95%CI 54.2-69.1) of interviewees stated they would evacuate during an emergency if they are required to, while 29.5% (95%CI 22.8-36.9) would not be able to evacuate for a number of reasons (lack of transportation or place to go, lack of trust in government, concern about pets, health problems). Interviewees revealed that 78.6% (95%CI 71.7-84.5) reported having copies of important documents in a safe location, 62.6% (95%CI 54.9-69.8) had multiple routes away from their home in case of evacuation, while 52.9% (95%CI 45.5-60.5) have an emergency communication plan; additionally 85.1% (95%CI 78.9-90.0) and 56.7% (95%CI 48.9-64.1) of households indicated having 3-day supplies of nonperishable food and water, respectively. Moreover, 96.5% (95%CI 92.4-98.7) had a working smoke detector, 77.8% (95%CI 70.6-83.9) had a working fire extinguisher, and 57.5% (95%CI 49.4-65.3) had a working carbon monoxide detector. During an emergency, 71.2% (95%CI 63.9-77.7) interviewers affirmed that their main information source would be the phone (text message, automated calls, Regional Notification System, mobile emergency alerts), followed by TV, 67.8% (95%CI 60.4-74.6), and internet and social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) 55.9% (95%CI 48.3-63.4).
CONCLUSIONS: This assessment provided significant information and identified important gaps in local household preparedness to Austin Public Health. Data suggest that about one third of the residents would not evacuate during a disaster if recommended by authorities, and just a half of them have an emergency communication plan. Almost two thirds of the households have a 3 day water supply. The preferred communication method is phone, followed by television and social media. The use of diverse type of communication should be taken in count to increase preparedness at community level, disseminating disaster response messages to all residents. More outreach activities should be directed toward the population, using materials and information on how to be prepared to engage Travis County citizens to be prepared.