‘to evacuate’ = to remove/take away people (or animals) from a place, especially from a place affected by a natural disaster, such as flood, earthquake, forest fire, and also from politically disturbed places in order to save those people from possible danger or harm, and now-a-days from war zones and terrorist attacks, by the officials of the government concerned or the non-government organisations like Red Cross, Green Cross, etc.

Note: Though both  ‘evacuee’ and ‘refugee’ give us almost the same meaning, there is some difference, at least in the usage or connotation, between an evacuee and a refugee: an evacuee is a person who has been moved from his/her place to another for some reason by the authorities, usually the person moves willingly and the moving is done before the actual danger strikes, for example, a person from a multi-storey building that has a threat of a terrorist bomb going to explode, and a refugee is a person who is forced to move or runaway, usually on his/her own, from his/her home or home-town, in times of riots, communal clashes and war, and the moving or fleeing is done during or after the danger strikes. For an article in which a writer gives his understanding of these  two words, please click here.