Cascading Consequences of Infrastructure Failures in Disasters

As part of our commitment to you to ensure we deliver quality services based on current research and best practice, Sharyn attended the 4th Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference.  There were many interesting sessions and Sharyn has summarised some of the key points for our readers. 

Stephanie Chang presented a very interesting presentation on the importance of urban infrastructure systems in disaster response and recovery.  Electric power, water, transportation and telecommunications provide vital services to residents, businesses and emergency responders and other organisations in disaster recovery.  

These infrastructure systems are highly interdependent, so the loss of electric power can cause cascading failures in dependent infrastructures such as water systems and hospitals.  So it is very timely with the recent earthquake in Christchurch to think about what you are dependent on and who is dependent on you. 

What if you had a slight disruption or a moderate disruption or a severe disruption to your business or in your community?  What can you put in place in readiness to ensure your family or your business or your community can manage and respond? 

We are very dependent on electric power, water and telecommunications.  When developing your resilience consider the recommended 72 hours.  Why only 72 hours?  Plan beyond that.  How many days do you want to be self-sufficient for?  What you do before a disaster will determine what your life and business will be afterwards.