CRISIS: Modeling the Restoration of Interdependent Civil and Social Infrastructure Systems Following an Extreme Event

Abstract

Civil infrastructure systems (transportation, power, communications, water, and sewer services) are crucial for the operation and wellbeing of a community during normal circumstances certainly, but especially so during and following an extreme natural hazard event. In addition to these basic utility services, social infrastructure such as police and fire services, healthcare, and commercial enterprises that provide essential community services must also be maintained. The objectives of this paper are twofold. The first objective is to describe the interdependencies that exist between civil and social infrastructure systems. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first model that considers how the services provided by civil infrastructure map to the performance of social infrastructure systems and the services they provide. The second objective is to describe the Civil Restoration with Interdependent Social Infrastructure Systems (CRISIS) model, a computer-aided decision-support model that was specifically developed to optimize the scheduled repair of damaged civil infrastructures based on stakeholder-determined priorities for the restoration of social infrastructure services that depend on the damaged civil systems. The CRISIS model accounts for the interdependent mechanisms for failure and service restoration that exist between civil and social infrastructures and particularly underscores the importance of the local and regional road networks in restoring social infrastructure services following an extreme event. The paper also presents an illustrative case study using a robust infrastructure data set for an artificial community specifically designed to validate the model without compromising potentially sensitive data on infrastructure vulnerabilities. The CRISIS model is envisioned as an education and training tool that can serve as a common platform to bring together public officials, emergency managers, infrastructure service providers, healthcare providers, social service providers, local businesses, and other community leaders to plan and prepare for extreme events before they occur by simulating a range of civil infrastructure damage scenarios and testing alternative strategies to restore social infrastructure services that have been disrupted as a result.