Risk & Vulnerability Assessment on Water Treatment Infrastructure against Natural Hazards in Puerto Rico
Abstract
Objective
To
establish a risk and vulnerability methodology for the proper evaluation of
the possible damage that multiple natural hazards may have on different
infrastructures, such as drinking water infrastructure, of a given study region
And use the methodology to identify the most vulnerable facilities, that may
require special maintenance and/or retrofit to avoid failure due to extreme
natural events
Research Methodology
4) Description of the Hazards
5) Identification of Possible Assets at Risk
Abdiel Lugo Montes
1 , Dr. Gustavo Pacheco Crosetti 2
6) Hazus Simulation to Analyze Risks
7) Summarize Vulnerability
8) Evaluation of Mitigation Options
Introduction and Risk Analysis Software
This
research focused on the use of FEMA’s Hazus Multi Hazard GIS modeling
software for the performance of a risk and vulnerability assessment on drinking
water treatment plants in Puerto Rico against natural hazards Earthquake
simulation by the software provided damage estimates for the water treatment
plants closest to the epicenter Based on the damage percentages provided by
the software, an identification of the most vulnerable potable water treatment
facility was accomplished The limitation for the usage of only earthquake and
tsunami hazards for the island of Puerto Rico, and the complex workings of the
software, limits its potential usage for risk and vulnerability assessments in the
future With the proper development for the application of multiple hazards
and the update to the default databases for Puerto Rico by the FEMA Hazus
team, multiple risk and vulnerability assessments may be accomplished for
different structures and for different natural hazards