Three Levels of Infrastructure Risk: Asset, Network, and System Impacts.

When disasters strike, their impacts ripple far beyond the site of damage. Understanding these effects is essential for protecting critical infrastructure (CI) and ensuring resilient societies. That’s why in the MIRACA project, we approach risk assessments at three interconnected levels: asset, network, and system.

1. Asset-level risk:

Asset-level assessments are the most direct and tangible. They focus on the physical damage to infrastructure caused by events like floods, wildfires, or earthquakes.

Take a rail network, for instance. If flooding hits Region C, it might damage a station or a section of track. Asset-level assessments help us estimate these direct losses. They are practical tools for first-response planning and immediate damage estimation, both vital for rapid recovery decisions.

2. Network-level risk:

But the impact doesn’t stop at broken infrastructure.

What happens if Region E relies on Region C for rail connectivity? Suddenly, a flood in Region C isolates Region E. Freight and passenger flows are interrupted. Rerouting trains through Region A and Region D isn’t just inconvenient, it’s costly.

Network-level risk assessments quantify this broader functional disruption. They help us see how the breakdown of a single asset can reverberate across entire transport systems.

3. System-level risk:

Zooming out even further, we reach system-level risk assessments. These explore how infrastructure disruptions affect wider socio-economic systems.

Let’s say Region E is a major steel supplier for car manufacturing in Region A. If Region E is cut off due to rail disruptions, production in Region A slows or stops—impacting jobs, trade, and GDP. Using economic datasets like Input-Output tables, system-level assessments trace how physical infrastructure failures cascade into financial and societal losses.

This level of assessment is critical for policymakers looking to understand and reduce the real-world consequences of disasters.

MIRACA’s approach to CI risk assessment:

In the MIRACA project, we don’t treat these risk levels in isolation. Three dedicated work packages (WP1, WP2, and WP3) are advancing methodologies for asset-, network-, and system-level assessments, respectively.

By integrating all three levels in MIRACA, we provide a comprehensive view of CI risk assessments, helping policymakers and planners to ensure infrastructure reliability during disasters.