Disasters Topic Guide

Disasters

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

American Association of Retired Persons' (AARP)  Disaster Resilience Tool Kit, 2022

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' (AASHTO)  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

Center for Urban Transportation Research's (CUTR) The Role of Public Transit during State of Emergency Declarations Due to Natural Disasters, 2018

Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) 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 Cooperative Highway Research Program's (NCHRP) A Guide to Emergency Management at State Transportation Agencies, 2020, and 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

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

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 Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), and Administration for Community Living's (ACL) Capacity-Building Toolkit for including Aging & Disability Networks in Emergency Planning

National Cooperative Highway Research Program's (NCHRP) A Guide to Regional Transportation Planning for Disasters, Emergencies, and Significant Events, 2013, and Leveraging Social Media Data for Emergency Preparedness and Response, 2023

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

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

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

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

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

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) Emergency Response Guidebook, 2024

Small Urban Rural Center on Mobility's (SURCOM) Crisis Management for Rural and Tribal Transit Providers, 2020

Transit Cooperative Research Program's (TCRP) 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, 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 February 3, 2026