Risk management and criticality ranking of civil infrastructures – case study

Abstract

<p>One of the most important prerequisites for the critical Infrastructure’s risk management is the study of the collateral effects between different critical Infrastructures (CI) to obtain a critical index that indicates which CI requires more effort in terms of budget and studies, i.e., ranking the criticality of the Infrastructures. Therefore, this article presents a brief literature review of the state of the art that was conducted regarding the methodologies and models for the critical infrastructure’s risk management and the importance of categorizing its level of risk and the criticality of each infrastructure. This paper consists of three main parts i) A short introduction on the background and importance of this study; ii) a brief display and explanation of the inspected methodologies for risk management and the quantification of the criticality of CI; iii) implementation of the selected methodologies applied on a case study situated in the north of Portugal applied to Fire Risk.</p>

Spatial Vulnerability Assessment of Critical Infrastructure Based on Fire Risk through GIS Systems—Case Study: Historic City Center of Guimarães, Portugal

“…To assess the fire risk within the study area, the values obtained from the fire risk analysis conducted by [4,20] are compared with sociodemographic data gathered from the 2021 Census of Guimarães. This comparative analysis facilitates the identification of zones characterized by higher fire risk and helped determine the population potentially exposed to such risks.…”

“…The historic city of Guimarães, located in the district of Braga in northern Portugal, holds a special significance as the birthplace of Portugal. Its historic center, renowned for its remarkable preservation, was officially included on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 13 December 2001 [4]. The city's historical significance lies in its well-preserved architecture, showcasing the evolution of various building styles from medieval settlements to the present, particularly between the 15th and 19th centuries.…”

“…For this study, the designated study area was divided into vulnerability assessment and criticality zones as depicted in Figure 1. These zones were established based on fire risk models developed in previous works [4,10,20,21]. To ensure the validity of these models, it was crucial to compile a comprehensive database.…”

“…In the second map, the focus was on portraying the FRI, the number of inhabitants within each building, and whether the buildings with inhabitants accommodated individuals with disabilities. This analysis was based on categorizing the buildings as residential, as established in previous studies [4,10,[19][20][21], and incorporating the newly interpolated data obtained from the 2021 census. Similar to the previous map, a comprehensive manual grouping of the buildings was carried out based on the number of inhabitants, the number of people with a disability, and the assigned Fire Risk Index.…”

“…The concentration of population, assets, and economic activities in urban areas significantly amplifies the risks associated with extreme events [2]. Critical infrastructure, defined as assets or systems that, if destroyed or disrupted, greatly affect societal well-being and effective governance [3,4], is primarily located in urban city centers. For instance, a significant earthquake can often disrupt essential services, including electricity, water, and road availability.…”