DISASTER RESILIENT TRANSPORTATATION
SYSTEMS
A PRIMER OF KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN MULTIPLY AND SPILL OVER FOR THE
BENEFIT OF MILLIONS
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of
North Carolina, USA
A NATURAL DISASTER CAN PARALYZE LOCAL, REGIONAL,
AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
LOSS OF FUNCTION OF A TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
CAN PARALYZE LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND
INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
• Provide an essential functionessential function to society by moving people and goods from point “A” to point “B”
• Represent a substantial share of a substantial share of a country’s GDPcountry’s GDP (11% for USA.)
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
Large number of components that are subject to either POINT or AREA failure.
FEATURES THAT AFFECT RESILIENCY (Continued)
Roadways and railways frequently follow river valleys (easier and cheaper to build)
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
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, Lifeline systems”.
HIGHWAY SYSTEMS
Flooding from tropical storms, hurricanes, and typhoons,Landslides (rock falls, spreads, slides, flows)Earthquakes (ground shaking)
TYPHOON MORAKOT: TAIWAN; LANDSLIDE BURIES VILLAGE OF 1,000
AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
Earthquakes (ground shaking and ground failure)
RAILROAD SYSTEMS
Earthquakes (ground shaking and ground failure)
PIPELINE SYSTEMS
Earthquakes (ground shaking and ground failure)
YOUR YOUR COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY
YOUR YOUR COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY
DATA 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
•NAT. HAZARDS•INVENTORY•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION
TRANS, SYSTEMSTRANS, SYSTEMS
RISK
ACCEPTABLE RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
VULNERABILITY VULNERABILITY REDUCTONREDUCTON
•LIFELINE STANDARDS•SITING AND ROUTING •EMERGENCY REPAIRS• RECONSTRUCTION•EDUCATIONAL SURGE
RISK MANAGEMENTRISK MANAGEMENT