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