Infrastructure Interdependencies Overview

Paula L. Scalingi, Ph.D.Executive Director, Bay Area Center for Regional Disaster Resilience

Bay Area Regional Disaster Resilience Action Plan InitiativeInfrastructure Interdependencies Workshop I

January 31, 2012

Highly complex and difficult to address—outside organizational control

A major determinant of vulnerabilities, consequences, what is critical and risk

Have significant implications for prevention, protection, preparedness, mitigation, response/recovery and long-term restoration

Extend well beyond a region, crossing state, national, and international borders

Why Infrastructure InterdependenciesAre Fundamental to Disaster Resilience

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Water and Waste water Healthcare/Public Health Emergency Services and Law

Enforcement Defense Industrial Base Information Technology Telecommunications Manufacturing Government Facilities Commercial Facilities Community Institutions/Social

Services* People*

Energy (electric power, natural gas, fuels)

Transportation Systems (all modes) Banking and Finance (includes insurance) Chemical Postal and Shipping National Monuments and Icons

and Tourism* Agriculture/Food Commercial Nuclear Reactors Dams and Levees

Critical Infrastructures & Service Providers That Underpin Health/Safety, the Economy & Society

* Not included in the critical infrastructures defined in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)

Interdependencies Fundamentals

Interdependencies operate at multiple levels Facilities and assets Networks (physical, cyber) End-to-end systems Communities, regions, and states Between states and multi-state Cross-national border, global

Can cause cascading failures with significant public health and safety, economic, environmental, and national security impacts

Can impede emergency response and recovery

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System of Systems Approach Needed for Understanding Interdependencies

5Graphic: Argonne National Laboratory Infrastructure Assurance Center

Types of Infrastructure Interdependencies

Physical (e.g., output of one infrastructure used by another)

Cyber (e.g., electronic, informational linkages)

Geographic (e.g., common corridor)

Logical (e.g., dependency through financial markets)

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Natural Gas Pipeline into Electric Power Plant

Pipeline & Highway

Types of Interdependency Failures

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Cascading failure – a disruption or unavailable product or service in one infrastructure or organization causes a disruption in a second

Escalating failure – a disruption in one infrastructure exacerbates, or impedes recovery of an independent disruption elsewhere

Common cause failure – disruption of two or more assets simultaneously because of co-location (e.g., right-of-way corridor)

Types of Disasters and Disruptions Natural Disasters

Wildfires Drought Major flood Tornado Earthquake Hurricane Heat wave Wind, dust, and ice storms

Manmade Cyber disruption or attack Fuel disruptions – Shortages, price spikes Technological disasters Physical attacks Weapons of Mass Destruction (Chemical, biological, or radiological)

Aging, deteriorating infrastructure The “Black Swan” Event—the unexpected disaster 8

Some Examples of Interdependencies Challenges

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Southwest Blackout – September 2011 Blackout of 7 million people in western Arizona, southern California, and parts

of Mexico Outage knocked out traffic lights, causing gridlock on the roads in San Diego

area Nearly 3.5 million gallons of sewage spilled into the water off San Diego, closing

beaches

San Diego Wildfires – October 2007 Series of wildfires that began burning across Southern California on October 20 Many major roads closed as a result of fires and smoke Communication equipment and electric lines destroyed Necessitated power imports from Mexico to sustain the grid

Los Angeles Region and Broader Western Windstorms – December, 2011 Severe damage and destruction Power outage, including at Los Angeles International Airport diverted flights Damaging high winds extended into other regions of the West--tractor-trailer trucks

were tipped over by crosswind gusts north of Salt Lake City

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Need to identify:

What threats and impacts are of greatest concern

Assets and services that, if destroyed, damaged, or disrupted, could adversely affect other systems or services Under normal and stressed operations, and during recovery and restoration

How interdependencies change with the length of a disruption, outage frequency, and other factors

How backup systems or other mitigation measures can reduce interdependence problems and create resilience

Interconnections between critical infrastructures and community assets and services

In Sum, What We Need to Do toDeal with Interdependencies

What We Need to Do to Deal with Interdependencies

Take a Comprehensive, Collaborative Approach--which is what the Bay Area Regional Resilience Initiative is Designed to Do

For organizations, communities, and regions

Requires individual and collective efforts

Includes: prevention, protection, vulnerability assessment, mitigation, response/recovery, restoration, training, exercises, education

Focus on all-hazards—physical, cyber, chemical, biological/pandemics, radiological threats and disruptions, aging and deteriorating infrastructures, natural disasters, systems failure, and human error)

Information sharing essential

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Where We are in Our Bay AreaRegional Disaster Resilience Initiative

We Have:1. Identified and convened the Bay Area Resilience Coalition and stakeholder Work Group

2. Conducted two workshops to explore resilience challenges, identify focus areas and priority issues, and now examine interdependencies

3. Have our gap analysis of current resilience needs underway

4. Developed an initial draft Action Plan framework

Yet to Do1. Will simultaneously start planning a regional tabletop exercise and Interdependencies

Workshop II focusing on remaining infrastructures/service providers

5. Hold a post-exercise Action Planning Workshop

6. Develop and coordinate the regional resilience Action Plan

7. Develop the implementation strategy to determine project requirements, milestones, funding and other assistance

Questions for Today’s WorkshopBreakout Session 11. Looking at past disruptions of energy, water, transportation, and

communications/IT systems from disasters and other causes, what were some of the infrastructure interdependencies challenges you saw as the most significant?

2. How would your organization get information to assess the impacts of these disruptions on its service providers, in terms of the magnitude and duration?

3. Which agencies or organizations would you expect to be able to provide this information; how and how soon?

4. What role do you believe utilities and other private sector stakeholders should play with local, state, and federal agencies in recovery efforts to restore services?

5. How is movement of utility restoration resources (personnel and materials) into and out of regions — including cross-state—handled and how would these decisions be made?

6. How are recovery and restoration decisions made when they involve interconnected infrastructures and local, state, and federal governments, infrastructure operators, businesses, community institutions and social services?

Questions for Breakout Session 2 on Interdependencies

Questions for Breakout Session 21. What dependencies and interdependencies does your organization have with other

infrastructures and service providers with focus on those that are of greatest concern?

2. What is your organization is doing to address interdependencies challenges?

3. What are priority gaps your organization faces related to gaining information and awareness on, and mitigating potential interdependencies-related impacts affecting disaster recovery

4. What actions or activities do you feel should be undertaken to address these gaps

5. What is the level of your organizational dependencies on utilities, transportation, and communications and IT?