A Resilience Assessment Framework of Infrastructure Systems by Integrating Social Equity to Support Disaster Resilience Decision Making

Authors

Sunil Dhakal, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Civil Engineering

First Advisor's Name

Lu Zhang

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Armin Mehrabi

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Ioannis Zisis

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Xia Jin

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Infrastructure resilience assessment, Vulnerability, Disaster inequality, Equitable resilience, Equity, Social Media, Twitter activities, Social welfare functions

Date of Defense

11-7-2022

Abstract

Resilient infrastructure, which better withstands, adapts, and quickly recovers from disasters, can limit disaster impacts, such as disruptions to infrastructure services and time and efforts needed for recovery. However, in the context of a disaster, the impacts or disruptions on the infrastructure are not evenly distributed across different communities. Thus, we need to account for such disparities (or inequalities) when assessing infrastructure resilience.

To address this need, this dissertation presents a new social-welfare-based infrastructure resilience assessment (SW-Infra-RA) model for quantifying the collective resilience of infrastructure serving multiple communities. This model accounts for (1) disaster inequality – the unequal distribution of disaster impacts on infrastructure across different communities, and (2) disaster vulnerability – the disaster impacts on infrastructure of the communities that suffer from the most severe impacts, both of which have impacts on the collective resilience of infrastructure. The proposed model is theoretically grounded on the social welfare theory and social welfare functions. It also leverages studies related to Social Vulnerability Index and the Resilient Triangle framework. The dissertation presents the conceptual notions and mathematical functions of the SW-Infra-RA model. A set of hypothetical and real case studies were conducted to illustrate the use of the proposed model to assess infrastructure resilience.

The results generated using this model could be utilized by decision makers to better understand the uneven distribution of disaster impacts across communities and identify communities that are severely impacted from a disaster. Such information about inequalities and vulnerabilities of the impacted region could help decision makers prioritize disaster assistance, resources for recovery, and future infrastructure investment toward the vulnerable communities. Overall, the study has the potential to facilitate equitable resilience planning by allowing both decision makers and community personnel to better understand the links between resilience planning and equity in their communities.

Identifier

FIDC010946

Previously Published In

• Dhakal, S., Zhang, L., and Lv, X. (2021). Understanding Infrastructure Resilience, Social Equity, and Their Interrelationships: Exploratory Study Using Social Media Data in Hurricane Michael. Natural Hazards Review, 22(4), 04021045.https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000512
• Dhakal, S., and Zhang, L. (2023). A Social Welfare–Based Infrastructure Resilience Assessment Framework: Toward Equitable Resilience for Infrastructure Development. Natural Hazards Review, 24(1), 04022043. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000597

Recommended Citation

Dhakal, Sunil, "A Resilience Assessment Framework of Infrastructure Systems by Integrating Social Equity to Support Disaster Resilience Decision Making" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5170.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5170