Enhancing decision support with interdependency modeling

Economic well-being and the social fabric are tightly linked to the critical infrastructure, which includes electric power grids, gas pipelines and telecommunications, transportation, water supply and waste disposal systems. During a disaster, these lifeline systems must, at the very least, quickly recover to provide acceptable levels of service. However, critical infrastructure assets incorporate physical and electronic networks that are interdependent within and across multiple domains, causing unpredictable consequences during adverse events and restoration processes. Therefore, it is mandatory to understand the overall risks that disasters pose to the critical infrastructure in order to recover from these situations. This chapter demonstrates how decision support for critical infrastructure assets during emergencies can be enhanced using interdependency modeling. A complex, realistic scenario involving four interconnected infrastructures is used as a case study. The results are validated with the assistance of key stakeholders such as Italian emergency personnel and electric utility operators.