Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of Hurricane Sandy from the perspective of interdependence among different sectors of critical infrastructure in New York City and to assess the interconnected nature of risks posed by such a hurricane.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses indirect damages of each sector to estimate the degree of functional interdependence among the sectors. The study examines the impact of the hurricane on different critical infrastructures by combining hazard maps of actual inundation areas with maps of critical infrastructure. The direct damages of each sector are calculated from the inundation areas in the flood map. The indirect damages are estimated by considering the areas that were not inundated but affected by Sandy through the interconnected infrastructure.
Findings
The electricity sector was the key sector to propagate risks to other sectors. The examination of new initiatives to increase the resilience of critical infrastructures in New York City after Sandy reveals that these initiatives focus primarily on building hard infrastructures to decrease direct damages. They understate the importance of interdependent risk across sectors. Future disaster risk reduction strategies must address interdependent infrastructures to reduce indirect damages.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on estimating the direct and indirect damages caused by Hurricane Sandy in each critical infrastructure sector, using GIS mapping techniques. It also introduces a Bayesian network as a tool to analyze critical infrastructure interdependence.
During recent mega-disasters, such as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the 2011 Thailand floods, interdependencies in supply chains caused substantial economic damage, often exacerbated by vulnerable small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, a new global framework in disaster risk reduction, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, mentions the role of the private sector in achieving a resilient society. However, the framework’s statements are abstract and they need to be converted into actionable agendas. This paper identifies future directions for private sector resilience to disasters, focusing on business continuity. Even though business continuity has been regarded as a critical factor in conventional disaster planning, Business Continuity Management (BCM), articulated as a holistic management process, tends to be designed and implemented selectively by each organization. To address SMEs and supply chain resilience, this paper proposes a new type of BCM, a regional BCM based on Public-Private Partnership (PPP), and a new role for the insurance industry.
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