RAPID: Assessment of Damage and Recovery of Power and Road Infrastructures in Western Alaska after Ex-Typhoon Merbok

2022年9月，前台风Merbok袭击了阿拉斯加西部，在许多沿海社区造成了广泛的破坏和破坏。这次前台风造成的巨大地理覆盖、极端洪水和风事件的独特共同发生以及极端破坏的极端程度，为开展侦察活动和确定最佳路径提供了机会，以增强社区对未来类似极端事件的应变能力。特别是，在这方面的调查有助于记录一系列风暴灾害对农村社区的影响，这些灾害在过去很少经历如此严重的事件。对电网的广泛破坏损害了农村社区的日常生活，这些社区没有为此类事件做好准备。与此同时，由于几条道路和桥梁受损造成的出入问题，紧急情况和恢复工作被推迟。因此，2022年9月阿拉斯加西部风暴提供的试验台预计将允许对一系列研究问题进行详细调查，这些问题根据每个问题的行动时间进行分类。该项目将有助于对民用基础设施的有形组成部分进行业绩评估，建立数据辅助的经验关系，以了解已建设施的可损害性，并查明有效促进农村地区受影响社区恢复能力的灾后恢复行动。为此目的，将从实地收集易腐烂的损害数据和恢复活动，以便为脆弱社区加强复原力和制定有效的缓解战略进行系统研究。这些原始信息将继续推动沿海地区的复原力做法，以进一步减少生命和财产损失。计划中的调查还将有助于改变所有者、规划者和政策制定者的能力，以确定各种极端事件情景下的复原力特征，并确定最佳适应和缓解战略。该项目的教育目标是培养未来一代多样化的工程师，他们能够提出创新的解决方案，以在灾难面前保持民用基础设施的服务。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ex-typhoon Merbok slammed Western Alaska in September 2022, leading to widespread damage and disruption in numerous coastal communities. The large geographic coverage, unique co-occurrence of extreme flood and wind events, and extremeness of damage caused by this ex-typhoon have provided an opportunity to perform reconnaissance activities and determine the best pathways to enhance the resilience of communities to similar extreme events in the future. In particular, investigations in this context help with the documentation of the effects of a range of storm-driven hazards in rural communities that had rarely experienced events of this magnitude in the past. The widespread damage to the electric power network impaired the daily life of the rural communities that were not prepared for such events. In parallel, the emergency and recovery efforts were delayed due to access issues originating from damage to several roads and bridges. Thus, the test-bed afforded by the September 2022 storm in Western Alaska is expected to allow a detailed investigation of a range of research questions categorized based on the time of action associated with each. This project will enable the performance assessment of physical components of civil infrastructures, the development of data-assisted empirical relationships that capture the damageability of constructed facilities, and the identification of post-disaster recovery actions that effectively contribute to the resiliency of the impacted communities in rural regions. For this purpose, perishable damage data and recovery activities will be collected from the field for systematic studies toward enhancing resilience and establishing effective mitigation strategies for vulnerable communities. Such original information will continue to advance resilient practices in coastal regions to further reduce loss of life and property. The planned investigations will also contribute to transforming the capabilities of owners, planners, and policymakers to characterize resilience under various extreme event scenarios and determine optimal adaptation and mitigation strategies. The educational goal of this project is to train a future generation of diverse engineers who can produce innovative solutions to maintain civil infrastructures in service in the face of calamities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.