peru's current plan

Current Plan

Peru's current national tsunami evacuation plan can be found here.

Positive

The positive aspects of the current plan include predetermined meeting places where extremely large groups can fit. For example, some of the Lima safe-havens include sports stadiums (Estadio Municipal) and universities (Universidad Nacional). This is a good use of resources considering the fact that these places are used to accommodating many people, though, granted, not for an extended period of time. Other safe locations include large public parks.

Problems

• The pedestrian evacuation routes in many cases overlap with the vehicular evacuation routes. This is a problem because panicked people will not act rationally, especially when in a group. The people may interfere with the flow of vehicular traffic. Scared motorists may, out of fear, do something drastic. In essence, putting people and cars on the same road just creates an additional risk that is potentially lethal.



• The plan also seems to completely neglect the fact that there may be disabled people or elderly people without access to cars who could not walk such distances. There should be a special evacuation "bus" system for hospitals, nursing homes, and other locations with a high concentration of such people. In this way, each person can get to safety if they can get to one of those stops, walk, or drive.



• The plan also does not differentiate between high- and low-risk areas along the coast. After analysis of topography, elevation, and population maps, we have concluded that the high-risk areas include Lima, Callao, Trujillo, Chiclayo, and other areas of lower elevation as these locations are low or densely populated.



• The plan also is not helpful if people do not know the routes ahead of time. In the event of a tsunami, people need to know where they are supposed to go. For this reason, we propose a sign network consisting of permanent signs that direct people towards the predetermined locations. In this way, people would have a general idea of where they are supposed to go, and upon seeing the signs recall where they should go. It may seen a bit silly having there signs; however, in the event of such an event, there would be such hysteria that this precaution is warranted.