When a no-notice emergency prompts an evacuation, family members in different locations throughout a city may unite so that they can evacuate as a group. This paper draws on data from more than 300 interviews conducted in the metropolitan area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The study uses discrete choice models to analyse the expectations of respondents regarding whether their likely plans for evacuation involve gathering spouses, parents, adult-age children, and/or non-family members. In addition, it addresses the matter of whether respondents plan to reunite with family members at home. Individuals' access to a personal car is the dominating factor in predicting whether respondents plan to gather a spouse. Being the parent of a child under the age of 18 years increases the tendency to report planning to reunite with family members at home. Both commute mode and car availability are not significantly associated with plans to reunite at home.
Keywords: evacuation; family gathering and reuniting; household behaviour; no-notice disasters.
© 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.