In recent years, the concept of resilience has been introduced to the engineering field in particular related to disaster mitigation and management. However, the built environment is only part of the elements that support community functions. Maintaining community functionality during and after a disaster, defined as resilience, is influenced by multiple components. The paper is proposing a framework for measuring community resilience at different spatial and temporal scales. Seven dimensions are identified for measuring community resilience: population and demographics, environmental and ecosystem, organized governmental services, physical infrastructures, lifestyle and community competence, economic development, and social-cultural capital. They are summarized with the acronym PEOPLES. Each dimension is characterized by a corresponding performance metric that is combined with the other dimensions using a multilayered approach. Therefore, once a hybrid model of the community is defined, the propo...
1 January 2005 in Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
The increased frequency of natural disasters and man-made catastrophes has caused major disruptions to critical infrastructures (CI) such as water distribution networks (WDNs). Therefore, reducing the vulnerability of the systems through physical and organizational restoration plans are the main concern for system engineers and utility managers that are responsible for the design, operation, and protection of WDNs. In this paper, a resilience index (R) of a WDN has been proposed that is the product of three indices: (1) the number of users temporarily without water, (2) the water level in the tank, and (3) the water quality. The resilience index is expected to help planners and engineers evaluate the functionality of a WDN, which includes: (1) delivering a certain demand of water with an acceptable level of pressure and quality, and (2) the restoration process following an extreme event. A small town in the south of Italy has been selected as a case study to show the applicability of this index us...