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Field damage assessments as a design tool for information and communications technology systems that are resilient to natural disasters

Published: 26 October 2011 Publication History

Abstract

This paper discusses how to perform field damage assessments after natural disasters as a systematic design tool to achieve information and communications technology (ICT) systems that are more resilient to natural disasters. Hence, damage assessments are analogous to performing forensic analysis, such as autopsies, in biological sciences. Yet, for ICT system designs, practical studies based on damage assessments have been used with a limited scope, and mostly oriented towards earthquakes only. The ultimate goal of the damage assessments is, hence, to build a permanent record of data and information that allows answering the two basic questions that are the focus of such forensic analysis: what failed and what did not fail, and how was service restored in the cases when ICT systems failed. Other alternative approaches more commonly used to attempt to answer these questions, such as inquiries, computer based modeling and simulation, or pure theoretical analysis, has been shown to yield limited and sometimes erroneous outcomes. This paper shows that damage assessments can provide valuable insights not generally gained through these other approaches. In doing so, this paper discusses planning and procedures involved in performing an effective damage assessment. Some of the discussed factors that influence damage assessment planning include geographic layout, meteorological or geophysical conditions of the disasters under study and ICT networks characteristics, both technically (hardware and software) and in terms of management (logistics, operations, maintenance, etc.). Since failures in ICT facilities may be originated in supplying infrastructures, evaluation and description of both types of interdependencies, physical and functional, are also explained. A practical example based on the March 2011 Japan's earthquake and tsunami is provided.

References

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A. Tang and J. Johansson (editors) "Pisco, Peru, Earthquake of August 15, 2007. Lifeline Performance" ASCE TCLEE Monographs 32, August 2008.
[2]
FCC Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks. "Report and Recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission." June 12, 2006.
[3]
J. W. Simmons Jr., "Digging out after Hugo," in Rec. INTELEC 1990, pp. 8--15.
[4]
K. Kent et. al. "Guide to Integrating Forensic Techniques into Incident Response," NIST Special Publication 800--86, August 2006
[5]
Federal Communications Commission, Order FCC 07--107, June 8, 2007.
[6]
A. Kwasinski, "Telecom Power Planning for Natural Disasters: Technology Implications and Alternatives to U. S. Federal Communications Commission's "Katrina Order" in View of the Effects of 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season," in Proc. INTELEC 2009, 7 pages.
[7]
"STS-107 Entry Timeline" http://www.netcore.us/1/cta/sts107re-entrytext.htm
[8]
D. Jolly and D. Grady, "Anxiety Up as Tokyo Issues Warning on Its Tap Water" March 23, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/asia/24japan.html?pagewanted=all.

Cited By

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  • (2024)Disaster Forensics of Infrastructure SystemsResilience Engineering for Power and Communications Systems10.1017/9781108648899.006(195-275)Online publication date: 4-Jan-2024
  • (2024)IntroductionResilience Engineering for Power and Communications Systems10.1017/9781108648899.002(1-21)Online publication date: 4-Jan-2024
  • (2023)Effects of Hurricane Ian on Communication Networks and Electric Power Infrastructures2023 Resilience Week (RWS)10.1109/RWS58133.2023.10284612(1-7)Online publication date: 27-Nov-2023
  • Show More Cited By

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cover image ACM Other conferences
ISABEL '11: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Applied Sciences in Biomedical and Communication Technologies
October 2011
949 pages
ISBN:9781450309134
DOI:10.1145/2093698
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

  • Universitat Pompeu Fabra
  • IEEE
  • Technical University of Catalonia Spain: Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain
  • River Publishers: River Publishers
  • CTTC: Technological Center for Telecommunications of Catalonia
  • CTIF: Kyranova Ltd, Center for TeleInFrastruktur

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 26 October 2011

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Author Tags

  1. damage assessment
  2. information and communication technology systems
  3. natural disasters

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ISABEL '11
Sponsor:
  • Technical University of Catalonia Spain
  • River Publishers
  • CTTC
  • CTIF

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Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Disaster Forensics of Infrastructure SystemsResilience Engineering for Power and Communications Systems10.1017/9781108648899.006(195-275)Online publication date: 4-Jan-2024
  • (2024)IntroductionResilience Engineering for Power and Communications Systems10.1017/9781108648899.002(1-21)Online publication date: 4-Jan-2024
  • (2023)Effects of Hurricane Ian on Communication Networks and Electric Power Infrastructures2023 Resilience Week (RWS)10.1109/RWS58133.2023.10284612(1-7)Online publication date: 27-Nov-2023
  • (2023)A Social Welfare–Based Infrastructure Resilience Assessment Framework: Toward Equitable Resilience for Infrastructure DevelopmentNatural Hazards Review10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.000059724:1Online publication date: Feb-2023
  • (2014)Lessons from the 1st Workshop about Preparing Information and Communication Technologies Systems for an Extreme Event2014 IEEE 36th International Telecommunications Energy Conference (INTELEC)10.1109/INTLEC.2014.6972159(1-8)Online publication date: Sep-2014
  • (2014)Field technical surveys: An essential tool for improving critical infrastructure and lifeline systems resiliency to disastersIEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2014)10.1109/GHTC.2014.6970264(78-85)Online publication date: Oct-2014

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