Disaster
Management for Critical Infrastructure
The
increasing complexity and interconnectedness of energy, telecommunications,
transportation and financial infrastructures pose new challenges
for secure, reliable management and operation. No single entity
has complete control of these multi-scale, distributed, highly interactive
networks, or the ability to evaluate, monitor, and manage them in
real time. Historically, primary emphasis in disaster management
has been placed on the performance of inhabited structures, the
failure of which would pose direct risk of life loss or injury.
As understanding of secondary disaster damage and indirect economic
losses improves it becomes evident that survival and rapid recovery
of networked infrastructure service systems is critical to reducing
the impacts of both natural and technological disasters.
The
project will provide tools for evaluation of critical infrastructure
vulnerability and
approaches to risk reduction. A general characterization of complex
network systems will be provided as well as the framework for analysis
of vulnerability of such systems. Reference will be made to recent
experience of critical infrastructure failure in disasters in both
developed and developing countries. Distinction will be made between
the opportunities for risk reduction in the design and construction
of new systems and those available for risk reduction in the retrofit
of existing systems.
Social
and economic consequences of critical infrastructure failure will
be illustrated from various disaster events and approaches to estimation
of direct and indirect losses from infrastructure service failure
will be discussed. Expected scale and distribution of losses related
to infrastructure failure will be related to costs of strengthening
and other strategies for risk reduction.
Because
critical infrastructure systems in disaster-prone developing countries
are often the subject of international investment and lending, standards
of design, construction, maintenance and operation should be introduced
and maintained as routine practice. While many infrastructure systems
have been owned and managed in the public sector there is a strong
movement toward privatization and reduction of public regulation.
Maintenance of appropriate standards of reliability for critical
services poses new challenges in market economies. The balance of
public interests in reliability of service (Including disaster survivability)
and market pressure to reduce price is problematic.
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