Critical assessment of lifeline system performance: Understanding societal needs in disaster recovery
This publication reports on a project that assessed current societal expectations of acceptable lifeline performance levels and restoration timeframes that are informed by the phases of response and recovery, distinguishing those that are hazard independent and those that are specific for seismic (including tsunami), wind (including hurricane and tornado), flood, snow/ice, and wildfire hazard events.
The project included consideration of the social institutions and societal needs that should drive lifeline system performance levels and recovery timeframes and the assessment of current system guidelines/standards and performance criteria so that deficits could be identified and potentially addressed through better awareness and definition of community requirements and goals as part of the overall NIST Community Resilience Planning process.
The starting point for the project was an initial effort by the ATC-appointed Project Technical Committee to summarize key guidelines, standards, and current performance criteria, and to identify critical social considerations and system interdependencies. Those and subsequent efforts helped identify and form a set of overarching considerations and recommendations, which were then refined through several rounds of review by an ATC-appointed Project Review Panel.
The culminating effort of the project was the development of this report, which contains:
- Detailed analyses of a broad range of societal considerations;
- Lifeline assessments and reviews of standards, guidelines, and performance criteria for electric power, natural gas and liquid fuel, telecommunication, transportation, water and wastewater systems;
- A review and analysis of available information on lifeline interdependency issues; and
- Findings, conclusions and recommendations that identify needed developments in lifeline codes, standards, and guidelines; needed research; modeling opportunities; and needs related to lifeline system operations and operational design.
