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Request for Approval to Collect Information Under an

Approved Generic Collection

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Southwest Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation Study – Behavioral Survey

TITLE AND OMB CONTROL NUMBER OF APPROVED GENERIC COLLECTION:

Hurricane Evacuation Behavioral Survey, 0710-0016

PURPOSE: The State of Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) seeks to conduct a behavioral survey of residents of southwest Louisiana as part of a hurricane evacuation study. The behavioral survey comprises residents in the parishes of Acadia, Allen, Assumption, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Pointe Coupee, Vermilion, and West Baton Rouge. Information obtained from this survey will be incorporated into a Hurricane Evacuation Study to identify clearance times for evacuations of populations in southwest Louisiana in advance of a hurricane or tropical storm. This collection will provide information to determine the resources needed and time requirements to ensure life safety of the residents of coastal Louisiana prior to hurricane landfall. Constituent’s behaviors will be analyzed through this survey and will allow for the development of a transportation model that will provide information on the time required for evacuation. The survey results will also inform local emergency, managers on constituent’s awareness of risk and allow them to adjust evacuation plans accordingly. The information that is to be gathered includes:

1) Household members’ perceptions of cues from the media and weather conditions about the hurricane threat;

2) Household decisions about whether to evacuate, and the timing of evacuation decisions and preparation tasks;

3) Evacuation logistics, including groups, vehicles, routes, locations, and household impacts associated with the evacuation; and

4) Household residence types, locations; and demographic information.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: The potential respondent universe will consist of residents living in coastal areas where public officials may call for an evacuation when a hurricane threatens. All study proposals must include a description of a survey’s particular respondent universe. The sample population is typically identified using available hurricane risk data, including data on areas at risk from hurricane storm surge flooding, previous hurricane evacuation studies or hurricane response plans, established hurricane evacuation zones, and in coordination with State and Local governments within the study area who are responsible for hurricane emergency management and evacuation decision making. The study will collect 1,700 responses from residents of 17 Louisiana Parishes: Acadia, Allen, Assumption, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Pointe Coupee, Vermilion, and West Baton Rouge.

HOW INFORMATION WILL BE COLLECTED: Data will be collected via a combination of random digit dialing of landline phones, random digit dialing of cell phones, and a listed sample.

Survey Administration: Survey data collection will be through telephone calls to addresses in or near hurricane evacuation zones. This is generally the method recommended by Social Science subject matter experts for this type of collection. Survey administrators use specialized software to record responses for better quality control and assurance, and to provide for efficient tabulation of the results.

Expected Response Rate: Based on experience with previous hurricane evacuation public behavior surveys, we estimate that there will be approximately 1700 completed surveys for the hurricane evacuation behavioral study effort, which will be conducted by telephone. In recent evacuation behavioral surveys, using commercially available published listings of landline telephone numbers with geocoded physical addresses, 37.5% of the numbers were reached successfully. The attrition is partly due to numbers that have been disconnected, commercial numbers that were incorrectly classified as residential, and so forth. But most of the attrition is due to residents not answering their phone. Of those who do answer, approximately 40% have most recently agreed to participate in the survey, resulting in an overall response rate of 15%. The 15% figure is better than the national average for landline surveys of 9%, mainly due to greater interest in the subject matter of the survey. Response rates for this survey effort is expected to be similar and at or above levels needed to obtain statistically viable results. USACE New Orleans District is working with local emergency operations centers to communicate to the public the importance of participation. This is intended to maximize response rates and ensure that these are integrated as part of the survey methodology in the supporting statement for each information collection to be considered under the clearance.

Data Analysis Plan: The data analysis conducted will be a descriptive profile of the responses to the individual survey questions and the development of custom depth-damage relationships for parish locations. The custom depth-damage relationship will be developed with information obtained from the survey. Adequacy of the response rate will be judged by the degree to which coverage of the coastal parishes are represented in the responses.

Non-response Bias Testing: The sample selection and data analysis plan targets the collection and use of site specific data. A question has been added to the form to request feedback on the cause of non-response. Non-response feedback will be requested as follows:

We have found that in studies of this type that people have a lot of different reasons for electing not to participate. Understanding the reasons for non-participation will help us to improve future survey approaches. Which of the following statements best describes your reason for electing not to participate?

1.  I do not have time to answer the questions.

2.  I am not interested in the Study or its outcome.

3.  Objected to the way a question (or questions) was asked.

5.  Other.____________________________________

Non-response feedback obtained will be analyzed for bias, focusing on the demographic questions we ask the non-respondents as a corollary to question 1.

CERTIFICATION:

A generic information collection covers collections that are voluntary, low-burdened (based on a consideration of total burden, total respondents, or burden per respondent), and uncontroversial. If this information collection falls outside the scope of the approved umbrella collection or is otherwise inconsistent with the terms of the approved umbrella collection, your proposed information collection will be returned for additional information or require that the full process be followed, including the 60-Day and 30-Day public notices and comment.

By entering your name below, you agree to the following.

I CERTIFY TO THE FOLLOWING:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

5. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: David Bradley

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Individuals & Households	1700	30	850
Total	1700	30	850

FEDERAL COST: $175,000

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: N/A

Publication of Results:

Will the results be published? No

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? No

2. If PII is collected, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? N/A

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? N/A

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? No

Instructions:

1. Have all applicable instruments, instructions and scripts been submitted? Yes

2. If No, why not? N/A

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