Abstract
AbstractCritical infrastructures, such as transportation systems, communication networks, power and water utilities, have become so integrated into our modern and globalised world that they are commonly taken for granted. That is, until their services are disrupted. The failure of these lifeline services during natural hazard events has the potential to impact populations by exacerbating the hazard itself and/or hindering their ability to respond to or recover from the event. The failure of lifeline infrastructure can also propagate outside the reach of the hazard footprint, causing disruption in regions not directly impacted by the event. Understanding the potential flow-on effects from lifeline failure during natural hazard events is vital for future disaster mitigation, response and recovery. The 2009 South-Eastern Australia heatwave and the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland are drawn on to highlight and discuss the vulnerability of lifelines to disruption from natural hazard shocks and the compounding impacts of lifeline failure during natural hazard events.
Highlights
Lifelines are the critical infrastructure and systems crucial to the distribution and continuous flow of goods and services essential for human livelihoods, the functioning of society and economic prosperity
A prolonged natural hazard event can affect a region for an extended period, causing vast and on-going disruptions to lifeline services vital for disaster response and community recovery
The primary demographic impact seen in the case of lifeline failure in 2009 in South-Eastern Australia was excess mortality, in older age groups
Summary
Lifelines are the critical infrastructure and systems crucial to the distribution and continuous flow of goods and services essential for human livelihoods, the functioning of society and economic prosperity They include, but are not limited to transportation, telecommunication and utilities such as power and water. There was a steep rise in accidental deaths, the authors found that the majority of the excess deaths were from disease-related causes rather than non-accidental This was due to the lack of power (and the cessation of services and equipment that rely on electricity) exacerbating and complicating the management of illness. A prolonged natural hazard event can affect a region for an extended period, causing vast and on-going disruptions to lifeline services vital for disaster response and community recovery. This chapter explores the compounding effects of lifeline disruption during natural hazards and, using the learnings following these events, discusses potential changes needed to reduce future vulnerability for at-risk populations
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