Definition: Evacuation
Moving people and assets temporarily to safer places before, during or after the occurrence of a hazardous event in order to protect them.
Annotation: Evacuation plans refer to the arrangements established in advance to enable the moving of people and assets temporarily to safer places before, during or after the occurrence of a hazardous event. Evacuation plans may include plans for return of evacuees and options to shelter in place.
Cite this
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). 2017. The Sendai Framework Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction. "Evacuation". Accessed 6 June 2026. https://www.undrr.org/terminology/evacuation. [Copy citation]
About the terminology
The Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Indicators and Terminology (OIEWG) relating to disaster risk reduction was established by the General Assembly in its resolution 69/284 for the development of a set of possible indicators to measure global progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, coherent with the work of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators. The report was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on February 2nd, 2017.
The Sendai Framework Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction promotes a common understanding and usage of disaster risk reduction concepts and to assist the disaster risk reduction efforts of authorities, practitioners and the public.
