Part 2: Performance Metrics to Measure Recovery

The NCSEA Resilience Committee is committed to educating the structural engineering community about the ever-evolving concepts of resilience and functional recovery. Adapt and Transform: COVID-19 Lessons for a More Resilient Future ran in STRUCTURE in October 2021. That article explored the concept of adaptability to the FEMA four-phase disaster management cycle characterized by “prepare, respond, recover, mitigate” (Figure 1) and considering the challenges and disruptions of the pre-vaccine COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Lessons for a More Resilient Future

“Since 2002, the U.S. has endured seven of the 10 most costly disasters in its history, with Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy topping the list. As a result, there is a need for best practices for resilience planning that address the increasing value-at-risk of U.S. infrastructure and communities. Communities, as a system, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural and human-caused disruptive events. Reliance on rebuild-as-before strategies is impractical and inefficient when dealing with persistent hazards. Instead, communities must break the cycle by enhancing their resilience with a systemic view of short- and long-run time horizons.”

NIST Special Publication 1197 – Community Resilience Economic Decision Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems