How bad would the weather have to be for you to evacuate the Cape, and with what form of transportation? What if there was an incident at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station? Where would you go, and who would you take?
These are some of the questions state and local officials are asking about 4,000 Cape Codders this week in a phone survey in order to gain information from any diaster from terrorits attacks to hurricanes, the Cape Cod Times reported.
The survey is being conducted by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee, in conjunction with KLD Engineering, a New York-based firm that specializes in traffic patterns and evacuation planning.
George Baker, Mashpee's fire chief and chairman of the emergency planning committee, said the survey was well over-due on the Cape, as many residents feel their safety hasn't been considered in disaster scenarios.
The Cape is currently not considered part of "the Emergency Planning Zone," a 10-mile radius around the Pilgrim plant, which would have priority evacuation in the case of a nuclear disaster. As of now, there is no nuclear evacuation plan in place for the Cape.
Many wonder what would happen if there was an actual disaster. After all, Route 6 was backed up 25 miles from the Sagamore Bridge at the peak of the weekend on July 6 and 7.
Critics of the survey, however, say the survey isn't scientific and is too confusing and vague.
"If you really want to know how people will behave in a nuclear incident, look at historical events," David Agnew, co-founder of Cape Downwinders, said. "At Three Mile Island, they anticipated 5,000 to evacuate, and there were 200,000."
Tell us: What do you think of the survey? Would you evacuate the Cape, and how would you do it?
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