A Study of Disaster Risk Communication and Adaptive Behaviour based on Rail Station Protection

Abstract

Critical infrastructure is an essential element of the operation of the city, such as for rapid transit, high-speed railway, local railways and other mass transit systems that must not only provide adequate service, but focus also on service quality improvement. These transportation station nodes have a single function or multi-target use, offering facilities for accessing transport, waiting, consumption, disaster prevention and other functions. When the city is an important node in disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, fire disasters, terrorist attacks and other disasters, it could seriously affect the city's security, especially through economic losses. In particular, emergency response and disaster recovery require the need to invest a lot in resources and adaptation. Therefore, urban facilities as nodes, space security, risk assessment and adaptation strategies are becoming important issues. This research regards the rail station as critical infrastructure and chooses stations, including railroads, high-speed railroads, and MRT, as nodes and explores the protective measures of stations facing natural disasters or manmade disasters. By collecting domestic and foreign hazard protection literature, this study has established public transport nodes' risk communication and an adaptive behaviour framework. Based on empirical results, the study finds that the station management department in Taipei uses a systematic approach to prevent and respond to disasters, and may not provide information effectively to help passengers to take appropriate autonomous response measures. The study recommends different contingency measures at stations and public-private adaptation strategies. Commercial enterprises do not have business continuity planning for disasters, they still rely on the government and transport management department for information and emergency guidance. Through this research, some principles and strategies for future disaster planning and urban node management policies are provided.

Editorial Introduction

“…The five articles presented in this Issue examine the multifaceted aspect of resilience from different perspectives, including the management of emergency measures and risk assessment, community response to stresses induced by social and economic factors, and adaptability of urban communities, each analyzing the multiform nature of this term once associated with the urban environment. Huang and Pai (2019) analyze the response capability of critical urban infrastructures like railway stations to respond in cases of natural hazards, technical failures, or induced threats like terrorist attacks. The strategic importance of such infrastructures, and the need to recover rapidly from interruptions or conditions of stress, make them particularly vulnerable in the case of hazards, therefore their resilience is embedded in the responsive behavior of management and staff.…”