In recent years, the increase in the number of hurricanes and other costal hazards in
the US pose a tremendous threat to the residents of coastal states. According to the
National Hurricane Center, Florida is the most vulnerable coastal state to hurricanes.
Mitigation policies have been formulated to reduce mortality and provide emergency
services by evacuating people from the hazard zone. Many of these evacuees,
particularly the elderly or lower income populations, rely on evacuation shelters for
temporary housing. Because of the cost and limited use, evacuation shelters are almost
exclusively dual use shelters where the primary purpose of the facility is for some
other public function (e.g. school, hospital, etc.). In 2000, the estimated shortage of
public shelter spaces in Florida was about 1.5 million. The purpose of this study was
to rank the existing and candidate shelters (schools, colleges, churches and
community centers) available in the state based on their site suitability. The research
questions examined in this study include: (1) How many candidate shelters are
located in physically suitable areas (e.g. not in a flood prone area, not near hazardous
facilities, etc.)?; (2) How many existing shelters are located in physically unsuitable
areas, but in socially suitable areas (situated in areas with demand)?; (3) How many
alternative existing and/or candidate shelters with high/very high physical suitability
are located near physically unsuitable existing shelters and thus, may be better choices
for a shelter?; and (4) How many existing shelters located in physically unsuitable
areas are not near alternative existing and/or candidate shelters? A Geographic
Information System-based suitability model integrating Weighted Linear Combination
(WLC) with a Pass/Fail screening technique was implemented for the 17 counties of
Southern Florida. It was found that 48% of the existing shelters are located in