Disasters Topic Guide

Disasters

Nobody is ever prepared for a disaster. From fires to hurricanes to blizzards, natural disasters and extreme weather affect every aspect of normal transit operations. This topic guide provides resources that help transit agencies plan, respond, and recover from disasters.

AARP's Disaster Resilience Tool Kit, 2022

AASHTO's Managing Catastrophic Transportation Emergencies: A Guide for Transportation Executives, 2015

California Rural Indian Health Board's Toolkit: Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing Between Tribes and Counties for Emergency Management, 2017

CUTR's The Role of Public Transit during State of Emergency Declarations Due to Natural Disasters, 2018

FEMA's Disaster Financial Management Guide: Guidance for State, Local, Tribal & Territorial Partners, 2020

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) - a cooperation framework between the United Nations, the European Commission and disaster managers worldwide

Mass Transit's Disaster Planning, Preparedness, Response and Recovery, 2017

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's An Emergency Management Playbook for State Transportation Agencies, 2024

National RTAP's Fire and Flood: Disaster Planning and Response Webinar, 2017, and START Safety Training and Rural Transit, 2018

National Transportation Knowledge Network (NTKN) Extreme Event Preparedness & Response for Operations, 2023

NCHRP's A Guide to Emergency Management at State Transportation Agencies, 2020

Rural Health Information Hub's (RHI Hub) Rural Emergency Preparedness and Response, 2025

TRB's Transportation System Resilience: Preparation, Recovery, and Adaptation, 2017

Disaster Planning

California Rural Indian Health Board's Barriers to Collaboration Between Tribal and County Governments: Planning for Major Disasters and Other Emergencies, 2016

Capacity-Building Toolkit for including Aging & Disability Networks in Emergency Planning, a collaboration of NACCHO, ASTHO, ASPR, ACL

Government Fleet's Building Resilience: Disaster Preparation for Fleet Insurance Planning, 2025

Maxwell Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Penn State Population Research Institute's Flood Risk is Higher in Rural and Disadvantaged Communities, 2021

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Leveraging Social Media Data for Emergency Preparedness and Response, 2023

National Rural Health Association's Emergency Preparedness for Rural Communities Policy Paper, 2019

Rural Health Information Hub's (RHI Hub) Rural Emergency Preparedness and Response Toolkit, 2025

NCHRP's A Guide to Regional Transportation Planning for Disasters, Emergencies, and Significant Events, 2013

Disaster Response

Center for the Commercialization of Innovative Transportation Technologies' (CCITT) Decision-Making Tools for Distribution Networks in Disaster Relief, 2011

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Emergency Operations Center Toolkit, 2022

FTA's Response and Recovery for Declared Emergencies and Disasters, 2013 and Effective Practices in Bus Transit Safety: Emergency Response, 2018

Mass Transit's Best Practices: Emergency Response, 2019

National RTAP's Transit's Role in Emergency Response, 2024

NCCM's Integrating Emergency Management and Mobility Management, 2020

PHMSA's Emergency Response Guidebook, 2024

SURCOM's Crisis Management for Rural and Tribal Transit Providers, 2020

TCRP's Assessing and Mitigating Electrical Fires on Transit Vehicles, 2021, Transportation for People with Disabilities and Older Adults During COVID-19: Lessons for Emergency Response, 2024, and Transportation Emergency Response Application (TERA): Migration Options Beyond, 2025

TCRP, NCHRP, and ACRP's Command-Level Decision Making for Transportation Emergency Managers, 2022

Disaster Recovery

FEMA's Community Recovery Management Toolkit, 2023, and National Resilience Guidance: A Collaborative Approach to Building Resilience, 2024

Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters: Strategies, Opportunities, and Planning for Recovery, 2015

NCHRP's Incorporating Resilience into Transportation Networks, 2024

TCRP's Improving the Resilience of Transit Systems Threatened by Natural Disasters, 2017, and Transit Recovery in the Aftermath of Severe Weather Events: Current State of Practice, 2025

U.S. DOT's Recovery Management: Transportation Industry Stakeholders, 2015

DISCLAIMER: The resources provided in each topic guide are not an exhaustive survey of every available resource on each topic. If you would like to add a resource to a Topic Guide, please email info@nationalrtap.org.  This document was prepared by National RTAP with the financial assistance of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The contents do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy of any agency of the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. It does not have the force and effect of law and is not meant to bind the public in any way.

Updated January 14, 2026