SGER: A Short-term Site Investigation of the 2008 Midwest Floods

2008年中西部洪水的短期现场调查最近在中西部发生的洪水在爱荷华州、伊利诺斯州、密苏里州和印第安纳州的城镇造成了广泛的破坏。这场灾难已造成24人死亡，150人受伤。专家说，造成大范围破坏的根本原因是基础设施故障。关键基础设施的崩溃会严重影响依赖于它的相关行业和社区。因此，应收集和分析灾害影响数据，以确定脆弱的基础设施及其对行业和社区的影响。这种分析将导致在发生洪水、飓风、龙卷风和地震等灾害时更好地保护和支持相关社区和工业服务。由于这种数据是短暂的，随着时间的推移而消失，因此在灾害发生后尽快收集数据非常重要。因此，本短期探索性研究的目的是在中西部受洪水影响的地区进行深入的案例研究，以获得受影响的基础设施和相关行业和社区的短暂数据。将进行个人访谈和问卷调查，以从受影响的社区、行业和负责的公共机构获得此类数据。数据将包括受损基础设施的准确位置和情况、受损程度、自然灾害发生后服务中断的持续时间及其对受影响行业和社区功能的影响。这些数据将分析洪水对受影响的行业和社区的社会、经济和技术影响。对数据的分析将加强对自然灾害发生时基础设施、行业和社区之间相互关系的理解。通过这项研究，将改进灾害影响分析和减轻灾害影响的方法，并加强政府和工业机构的备灾能力。这项研究将对易受自然灾害影响的行业和社区产生重大影响，使它们更好地了解其关键基础设施在自然灾害下的脆弱性。通过这项研究进行的案例研究将是一个有效的工具，研究生和本科生了解基础设施在支持我们的行业和社区所发挥的作用。这项研究的结果将有助于公共机构，行业和社区更好地制定自然灾害减灾战略，并提供一个有效的工具来处理与灾害有关的资源。

AbstractA Short-term Site Investigation of the 2008 Midwest FloodsRecent floods in the Midwest have caused widespread damage in cities and towns in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana. This disaster has killed 24 people and injured another 150. Experts say that the fundamental reason for the widespread damage was infrastructure failures. Collapse of a critical infrastructure severely affects the associated industries and communities that rely on it. Therefore, disaster impact data should be collected and analyzed to determine vulnerable infrastructure and its impact on industries and communities. Such analysis would lead to better protection and support for associated communities and industrial services during the occurrence of disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Since such data is ephemeral and vanishes with time, it is important to collect the data as soon as possible after the occurrence of disasters. Therefore, the objective of this short-term exploratory research is to conduct in-depth case studies in the flood-affected regions in the Midwest to obtain the ephemeral data with respect to the affected infrastructure and related industries and communities. Personal interviews and questionnaire surveys would be conducted to obtain such data from affected communities, industries, and responsible public agencies. Data would include accurate locations and circumstances of damaged infrastructure, the level of damage, and duration of service failure right after the occurrence of a natural disaster and its impact on the functions of affected industries and communities. This data would be analyzed in terms of social, economic, and technical impacts of floods on the affected industries and communities.The analysis of the data would enhance understanding of inter-relationship between infrastructure, industries, and communities in the event of natural disasters. Through this research, the methodology of disaster impact analysis and mitigation will be improved and the disaster-related preparedness of governmental and industrial agencies will be enhanced. This research will have significant impact on the industries and communities that are prone to the impact of natural disasters by improving the understanding of their vulnerability under such calamities with respect to their critical infrastructure. The case studies conducted through this research would be an effective tool for graduate as well as undergraduate students to understand the role played by infrastructure in supporting our industries and communities. The results of this research will help public agencies, industries, and communities to better prepare natural disaster mitigation strategies as well as provide an effective tool to handle the disaster-related resources.