Immediate Response to Natural Immediate Response to Natural Disasters that Damage Critical Disasters that Damage Critical

InfrastructureInfrastructure

Grand Forks Herald Photo

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

Disasters Happen and cause damage

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

Quality of response determines speed of recovery

Pittsburgh Post Gazette Photo

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

• Checklist for infrastructure managers– Preventative measures– Immediate response– Cleanup funding options– Permit requirements

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

• Methods

• Case studies for disasters:– What worked– What didn’t– How have new regulations changed response

options (NPDES II)

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

Example: Mt. St. Helens Eruption, 1980

• 27 bridges damaged• 3 municipal water

supplies disabled• 5.5 Billion cubic yards

of sediment

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

• Cleanup required sediment removal and disposal

• Infrastructure Repairs included new water supply and treatment, transportation nodes

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

• This was just one event– Some are more frequent than others– Some are bigger, some smaller– Natural and man-made

• Disasters will always happen

• Pretending they don’t is unrealistic

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

Infrastructure managers need a clear procedure to follow during a time of emergency so they don’t have to worry about funding and permits

Grand Forks Herald Photo

Disaster ResponseDisaster Response

• Questions?

• References:• Schuster, R. L. (1981). Effects of the Eruptions on Civil Works and Operations in the Pacific

Northwest, chap. in P. W. Lipman, and Mullineaux, D. R. (Eds.), The 1980 Eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1250, pp. 701-718.

• Cascade Volcano Observatory photo archive, USGS. Photos by Austin Post and Lyn Topinka

• Flood Photos from the Grand Forks Herald, 1997.

• Bridge photo of Kinzua Bridge, PA, by V.W.H. Campbell, Jr., Pittsburgh Post- Gazette.

• Topinka, Lyn, 1997, From: Brantley and Myers, 1997, Mount St. Helens -- From the 1980 Eruption to 1996: USGS Fact Sheet 070-97 and Tilling, Topinka, and Swanson, 1990, Eruption of Mount St. Helens - Past, Present, and Future: USGS General Interest Publication