Modeling Regional and Local Resilience of Infrastructure Networks Following Disruptions from Natural Hazards

Abstract

This paper presents a framework to evaluate the regional and local resilience of infrastructure networks following disruptions from natural hazards. Herein, the regional resilience of a network relates to the accessibility of a community within a larger network, whereas the local resilience concerns the ability of a network to provide its intended service within the boundaries of a community. Using this framework, a methodology is developed to demonstrate its application to a road and highway transportation network disrupted by ground shaking and inundation under a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami scenario. The regional network extents encompass the entire coast of the US state of Oregon. Embedded within this regional network are 18 local networks associated with coastal communities. Regional and local connectivity indexes are defined to identify the initial damage and then track the postdisaster recovery of the transportation network, i.e., evaluate the network resilience. The study results identify the attributes that lead to a regionally or locally resilient network and highlight the importance of considering local infrastructure networks embedded within larger regional networks. It is shown that without regional considerations, the time to recover may be severely underpredicted. The methodology is further used as a decision support tool to demonstrate how mitigation options impact the transportation network’s resilience. The importance of strategically considering mitigation options is emphasized as some communities see significant reductions in time to recover, whereas others see little to no improvement.