Multi-hazard socio-physical resilience assessment of hurricane-induced hazards on coastal communities

Abstract

Hurricane-induced hazards can result in significant damage to the built environment cascading into major impacts to the households, social institutions, and local economy. Although quantifying physical impacts of hurricane-induced hazards is essential for risk analysis, it is necessary but not sufficient for community resilience planning. While there have been several studies on hurricane risk and recovery assessment at the building- and community-level, few studies have focused on the nexus of coupled physical and social disruptions, particularly when characterizing recovery in the face of coastal multi-hazards. Therefore, this study presents an integrated approach to quantify the socio-physical disruption following hurricane-induced multi-hazards (e.g., wind, storm surge, wave) by considering the physical damage and functionality of the built environment along with the population dynamics over time. Specifically, high-resolution fragility models of buildings, and power and transportation infrastructures capture the combined impacts of hurricane loading on the built environment. Beyond simulating recovery by tracking infrastructure network performance metrics, such as access to essential facilities, this coupled socio-physical approach affords projection of post-hazard population dislocation and temporal evolution of housing and household recovery constrained by the building and infrastructure recovery. The results reveal the relative importance of multi-hazard consideration in the damage and recovery assessment of communities, along with the role of interdependent socio-physical system modeling when evaluating metrics such as housing recovery or the need for emergency shelter. Furthermore, the methodology presented here provides a foundation for resilience-informed decisions for coastal communities.