@article{,
      note = {"This research was sponsored by the Federal Emergency  Management Agency and conducted under the auspices of the  RAND Homeland Security and Defense Center, a joint center  of the RAND National Security Research Division and RAND  Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment." -- T.p. verso.},
      author = {Jackson, Brian A., and Faith, Kay Sullivan. and Willis,  Henry H.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/418784},
      title = {Evaluating the reliability of emergency response systems  for large-scale incident operations [electronic resource]  /},
      publisher = {RAND,},
      abstract = {The ability to measure emergency preparedness - to predict  the likely performance of emergency response systems in  future events - is critical for policy analysis in homeland  security. Yet it remains difficult to know how prepared a  response system is to deal with large-scale incidents,  whether it be a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or  industrial or transportation accident. This research draws  on the fields of systems analysis and engineering to apply  the concept of system reliability to the evaluation of  emergency response systems. The authors describe a method  for modeling an emergency response system; identifying how  individual parts of the system might fail; and assessing  the likelihood of each failure and the severity of its  effects on the overall response effort. The authors walk  the reader through two applications of this method: a  simplified example in which responders must deliver medical  treatment to a certain number of people in a specified time  window, and a more complex scenario involving the release  of chlorine gas. The authors also describe an exploratory  analysis in which they parsed a set of after-action reports  describing real-world incidents, to demonstrate how this  method can be used to quantitatively analyze data on past  response performance. The authors conclude with a  discussion of how this method of measuring emergency  response system reliability could inform policy discussion  of emergency preparedness, how system reliability might be  improved, and the costs of doing so. --From publisher  description.},
      number = {MG-994-FEMA},
      recid = {418784},
      pages = {xxiv, 199 p., 1 folded flowchart :},
      address = {Santa Monica, CA :},
      year = {2010},
}