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Article
Publication date: 22 July 2020

Masahiko Haraguchi

This paper aims to examine how government continuity planning contributes to strengthening the public sector's emergency preparedness, resulting in enhanced resilience of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how government continuity planning contributes to strengthening the public sector's emergency preparedness, resulting in enhanced resilience of the public sector. Government continuity plans (GCPs) are a recently focused concept in disaster preparedness, compared to business continuity plans (BCPs) in the private sector. The need for BCPs was widely recognized after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and the 2011 Thailand Floods. However, recent disasters, such as the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake in Japan, have revealed that local governments without effective GCPs were severely affected by disasters, preventing them from quickly responding to or recovering from disasters. When the GEJE occurred in 2011, only 11% of municipal governments in Japan had GCPs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyzes basic principles of government continuity planning using complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory while summarizing recent developments in theory and practice of government continuity planning.

Findings

This research investigates the Japanese experience of GCPs using self-organization, one of the concepts of CAS. A GCP will complement regional disaster plans, which often focus on what governments should do to protect citizens during emergencies but fail to outline how governments should prepare for an emergency operation. The study concludes that GCPs contribute to increased resilience among the public sector in terms of robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness and rapidity.

Practical implications

This paper includes implications for the development and improvement of a GCP's operational guideline.

Originality/value

This research fulfills an identified need to investigate the effectiveness of a GCP for resilience in the public sector and how to improve its operation using concepts of CAS.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

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Article
Publication date: 11 April 2016

Masahiko Haraguchi and Soojun Kim

This study aims to investigate the impact of Hurricane Sandy from the perspective of interdependence among different sectors of critical infrastructure in New York City and to…

666

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impact of Hurricane Sandy from the perspective of interdependence among different sectors of critical infrastructure in New York City and to assess the interconnected nature of risks posed by such a hurricane.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses indirect damages of each sector to estimate the degree of functional interdependence among the sectors. The study examines the impact of the hurricane on different critical infrastructures by combining hazard maps of actual inundation areas with maps of critical infrastructure. The direct damages of each sector are calculated from the inundation areas in the flood map. The indirect damages are estimated by considering the areas that were not inundated but affected by Sandy through the interconnected infrastructure.

Findings

The electricity sector was the key sector to propagate risks to other sectors. The examination of new initiatives to increase the resilience of critical infrastructures in New York City after Sandy reveals that these initiatives focus primarily on building hard infrastructures to decrease direct damages. They understate the importance of interdependent risk across sectors. Future disaster risk reduction strategies must address interdependent infrastructures to reduce indirect damages.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on estimating the direct and indirect damages caused by Hurricane Sandy in each critical infrastructure sector, using GIS mapping techniques. It also introduces a Bayesian network as a tool to analyze critical infrastructure interdependence.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

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