An Extensible Software Architecture to Facilitate Disaster Response Planning Martin O’Neill II, Armin R. Mikler, and Tamara Schneider Center for Computational Epidemiology and Response Analysis, University of North Texas, Denton, TX USA Abstract— Disaster mitigation planning must rely on an analysis of available data. However, the vast amounts and different types of data make this data analysis intractable without the use of computational tools. The RE-PLAN Re- sponse Plan Analysis framework was designed to create the computational tools needed for these analyses. Although the methodology it employs was originally designed to facilitate validation of mitigation plans for biological emergencies arising from a release of hazardous biological substances, the RE-PLAN framework has been generalized to serve as a launching point for the development of a wide variety of dis- aster mitigation and evacuation planning scenarios. A tool using the RE-PLAN framework for feasibility analysis of ad hoc clinics for treating the population following a biological emergency event has been created. This paper focuses on the design and implementation of the RE-PLAN framework and how it has been used to address the hazardous biological substance release mitigation data analysis problem. Keywords: biological emergencies, disaster mitigation planning, emergency response, evacuation planning, POD throughput, public health preparedness 1. Introduction The RE-PLAN Response Plan Analysis framework was designed to facilitate the construction of computational tools for the analysis and development of disaster mitigation and evacuation plans. Although this framework was originally designed around a specific disaster mitigation problem, its modules are generalized and may be used in the context of a wide variety of disaster and evacuation situations. Additional modules may be added to the framework in order to address concerns peculiar to specific disaster or evacuation situations. However, the existing framework comprises a significant set of analysis techniques relevant to a wide variety of different situations. The RE-PLAN framework emerged from a methodology developed for analyzing the feasibility of ad hoc facilities for treating populations following a release of hazardous biological substances [1][2]. A set of facilities is considered feasible if its operational efficiency [3] is capable of meeting service requirements (e.g. specific time frames for service completion or proportions of populations to be served) without exceeding available resources (e.g. transportation network capacities or limitations of facility infrastructure). This paper will highlight the following main architectural components of the RE-PLAN framework and the modules designed to implement them: • Facility selection and service area determination - Sets of facilities in existing plans may be analyzed or sets of feasible facilities may be generated with respect to the populations’ geographic distributions. This component is primarily responsible for the selection of facilities and generation of service areas. • Logistics calculator - Calculates how the population utilizes the transportation network to travel to the facilities. These calculations facilitate the analysis of conditions on the transportation network resulting from response plan implementation. • Facility requirement and traffic analysis - Population distribution among the facilities can be examined to facilitate resource distribution, and parking lot entry and exit rates at each facility are determined. Parameters may be modified to increase or decrease the number of individuals each facility is capable of serving per day. Traffic conditions resulting from the placement of facilities may be analyzed using geographic population data, road network data, and traffic count observation data. Parameters such as people per car, time of day, and day of week may be modified to facilitate mitigation planning. Computational models of biological emergency events show the importance of a policy of aggressive mass treatment [4][5], and delays in this treatment can lead to increased numbers of casualties [6]. Routing and scheduling for timely delivery of medications to treatment facilities have been ex- amined in [7], and strategies regarding medication distribu- tion among the facilities have been explored in [8]. However, the distribution of medications to the population remains a challenging problem [9]. To aid larger cities in planning for these contingencies, the United States Department of Health and Human Services instituted the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) in 2004 [10]. An initial evaluation of CRI indicates that the initiative has improved mass treatment preparedness [11]. Studies have been conducted regarding shortcomings and optimization strategies inside service facilities during a biological emergency [12][13]. However, less attention has been paid to how the population will be delivered to facilities for treatment during response plan implementation.