DISASTER PROTECTION

A Time-Dependent and Policy-Driven Process to Protect a City’s

Transportation Systems From Disaster

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of

North Carolina, USA

THE FOCUS:FROM UN—PROTECTED

TO PROTECTED TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEMS

THE FOCUS:FROM UN—PROTECTED

TO PROTECTED TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEMS

A CITY CAN BECOME DISASTER RESILIENT

WHEN …

ITS PEOPLE, BUILDINGS, INFRASTRUCTURE, ESSENTIAL AND

CRITICAL FACILITIES ARE PROTECTED BY CODES & STANDARDS AGAINST

THE POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS OF LIKELY NATURAL HAZARDS

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITYCOMMUNITYCOMMUNITYDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATIONDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION

HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

•NATURAL HAZARDS•INVENTORY•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

RISK ASSESSMENTRISK ASSESSMENT

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

GOAL: DISASTER GOAL: DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE

•PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY IENCE

FOUR PILLARS OF FOUR PILLARS OF RESILIENCERESILIENCE

A DISASTER OCCURS WHEN A COMMUNITY’S PUBLIC

POLICIES ALLOW IT TO BE …

UN—PREPARED

UN—PROTECTED

UN—ABLE TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY

UN (NON)--RESILIENT

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

• Provide an essential functionessential function to society by moving people and goods from point “A” to point “B”

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

• Types: Roads, railroads, mass transit, water-borne and air transport systems, and pipelines

• Scales: urban, regional, national, and international.

ELEMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

• Built infrastructureBuilt infrastructure• roads, runways,

airports, terminals, railways, stations, canals, ports, traffic control centers, maintenance and operation facilities, pipelines, etc.

• Operations sideOperations side

• vehicles, traffic safety and control, power, commun-ications and signaling, maintenance, transportation operators, etc.

FEATURES THAT AFFECT RESILIENCY

Extend over broad geographical areas (exposed to many kinds of natural hazards)

Large number of components that are subject to either POINT or AREA failure (multiple types of vulnerabilities).

FEATURES THAT AFFECT RESILIENCY (Continued)

Roadways and railways frequently follow river valleys (easier and cheaper to build, but prone to floods)

Utilities, including pipelines, often follow right-of-ways (reduces legal problems and costs)

FEATURES THAT AFFECT RESILIENCY (Continued)

Multiple entities have responsibility for, or oversight of the system (variable policies)

Typically owned by public entities and publicly funded (usually self-insured)

FEATURES THAT AFFECT RESILIENCY (Continued)

Different modes of trans-portation are interconnected

They interact with each other and other elements of a community’s built environ-ment; hence, the name, “City Lifeline Systems”.

WITHOUT PROTECTION (i.e., building codes and lifeline

standards), NATURAL DISASTERS CAN, AND USUALLY DO, CAUSE

GREAT LOSS OF FUNCTION IN CITY TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

HIGHWAY SYSTEMS: CAN LOSE FUNCTION FROM:

Flooding from tropical storms, hurricanes, and typhoons,Landslides (rock falls, spreads, slides, flows)Earthquakes (ground shaking)

AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEMS CAN LOSE THEIR FUNCTION FROM:

Earthquakes (ground shaking and ground failure)Tsunamis (tsunami wave run up)Tornadoes (wind damage)

SENDAI AIRPORT: COVERED WITH MUD FROM TSUNAMI

SENDAI AIRPORT: COVERED WITH CARS, MUD, & DEBRIS

TORNADO DAMAGES LAMBERT AIRPORT; ST LOUIS, MO, UISA

RAILROAD SYSTEMS CAN LOSE THEIR FUNCTION FROM:

Earthquakes (ground shaking and ground failure)

JAPAN: PASSENGERS STRANDED IN SENDAI STATION

PIPELINE SYSTEMS CAN LOSE THEIR FUNCTION FROM:

Earthquakes (ground shaking and ground failure)

DISASTER RESILIENCE REQUIRES CITIES TO ADOPT AND

IMPLEMENT PUBLIC POLICIES TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE STATE OF BEING:

UN—PREPAREDUN—PROTECTED

UN—ABLE TO RESPONDAND NON--RESILIENT

DISASTER RESILIENCE REQUIRES CITIES TO ADOPT AND

IMPLEMENT PUBLIC POLICIES TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE STATE OF BEING:

UN—PREPAREDUN—PROTECTED

UN—ABLE TO RESPONDAND NON--RESILIENT