Can graph theory help prepare for lifeline failure during a disaster?

Not only is it important to make lifelines – infrastructure that communities rely on each day such as roads, bridges, power and water – more resilient to disruption from natural hazards, there is also a need to better prepare communities and emergency services to cope with service outages.

Combining natural hazard modelling, GIS analysis and graph theory tools, Hazard Note 66 presents PhD findings from Dr Emma Singh that show how graph theory techniques can be applied to aide disaster mitigation, emergency response and community recovery. With Mount Fiji in Japan used as a case study, findings show that graph theory can be a useful tool for investigating lifeline failure in a disaster context by helping to envisage network exposure, the flow on effects of lifeline failure and network recovery.

Further reading

Singh, E. A. (2019) Modelling the impact of lifeline infrastructure failure during natural hazard events. Doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Environmental Sciences