Critical Infrastructure

 

With advances in technology, Americans are increasingly dependent upon critical infrastructure for all facets of their lives.  This dependence was demonstrated during the August 2003 black-out that extended from New York, Toronto, to Detroit.  The loss or disruption of critical infrastructure can have a serious impact on the health, safety, security, and economic well being of all Americans and could have an impact on the effective functioning of governments. 

 

The USA PATRIOT Act defines critical infrastructure as those “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters.”[1]  The National Strategy for Homeland Security categorizes critical infrastructures into 13 sectors:

• Agriculture
• Food
• Water
• Public Health
• Emergency Services
• Government
• Defense Industrial Base
• Information and Telecommunications
• Energy
• Transportation
• Banking and Finance
• Chemical Industry and Hazardous Materials
• Postal and Shipping

 

Critical infrastructure could potentially be affected by natural hazards (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc.) or human caused hazards. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security divides human caused hazards into two categories, “technological hazards” and “terrorism.”  Technological hazards are incidents that arise from human activities such as the manufacture, transportation and storage, and use of hazardous materials but are accidental and their consequences were unintended.  The recent northeast blackout is such a technological hazard event.  Terrorism refers to intentional, criminal, malicious acts.[2]  Therefore, many organizations are adopting an all-hazards approach to the protection of critical infrastructure.

 

The Department of Homeland Security has promulgated eight “Guiding Principles” to underpin The National Security Strategy for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets.  The seventh reads:

 

7. Develop technologies and expertise to combat terrorist threats

The National Strategy for Homeland Security underscores the importance of science and technology as key elements of homeland security.  Our efforts to secure critical infrastructures and key assets must fully leverage our technological advantages to make protection more effective, more efficient, and less costly. Pooling our national resources and fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors will enable us to capitalize on emerging technologies and enhance our protection against the most lethal threats.

 

Similarly, through advances in modeling, simulation, and analysis we can improve our understanding of the complex, interdependent nature of the infrastructures and assets we must protect. Emergent capabilities in this area will facilitate protection planning, decision making, and resource allocation.

 

HAZUS-MH and its use of state-of-the-art geographic information system (GIS) software to map and display hazard data, and estimate resulting loss estimates for buildings and infrastructure is a significant tool to aid planning and decision making to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure. 

 

HAZUS-MH comes with a wealth of information on buildings and infrastructure, including information on buildings (residential, commercial, industrial, religious, educational, etc.), on infrastructure (roads, bridges, hospitals, ports, airports, etc.), and on demographics (broken down by age, ethnicity, income, and ownership).  HAZUS MH can answer questions such as: Which areas will be affected by an event? What utilities will be lost?  Which roads, schools and businesses will be impacted? It also can quantify the potential impact of an event in terms of economic, social, functionality, and system performance.

 

 

Although HAZUS-MH is the cutting-edge software model at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for estimating losses that may occur during natural disasters (floods, earthquakes and hurricanes), it is also evolving with the application of plug-in third party modules to better address technological hazards and terrorism.

 

 

 

 

 

In the future, HAZUS-MH users will use such modules to run “what-if scenarios” to provide decision makers with necessary information to assess the level of readiness and preparedness for such disasters and to guide crucial decisions during an actual event.