The role of coupling and embeddedness in risk evolution: rethinking the snow event in early 2008, China

New forms of hazards generated by extreme weather pose new challenges to emergency management. The purpose of this paper is to identify a typical evolution dynamics by analyzing coupling and embeddedness in risk evolution via critical infrastructure system under extreme weather. Evidence from the snow event in early 2008, China, is used to draw the viewpoint and support the argument. The paper identifies the dynamics that how a natural hazard of extreme weather evolves into a social crisis and how coupling and embeddedness contribute to the evolution. This paper makes it evident that the impact of natural hazard to a society can obtain amplification through coupling and embeddedness. Therefore, new challenges in risk evolution should become a highlighted direction for further research. This paper sheds light on a new profile for social impact research of natural hazard and provides new insights into systems thinking on emergency management.

[1]  Simon French,et al.  A role for human reliability analysis (HRA) in preventing drinking water incidents and securing safe drinking water. , 2009, Water research.

[2]  E. Luiijf,et al.  THE STATE AND THE THREAT OF CASCADING FAILURE ACROSS CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES: THE IMPLICATIONS OF EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM MEDIA INCIDENT REPORTS , 2011 .

[3]  Wolfgang Kröger,et al.  Critical infrastructures at risk: A need for a new conceptual approach and extended analytical tools , 2008, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[4]  Adrian V. Gheorghe,et al.  System of Systems , 2012 .

[5]  Xin Miao,et al.  Modeling of bilevel games and incentives for sustainable critical infrastructure system , 2010 .

[6]  Shaomin Wu,et al.  Resilience to evolving drinking water contamination risks: a human error prevention perspective , 2013 .

[7]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[8]  Bruno Merz,et al.  A Probabilistic Modelling System for Assessing Flood Risks , 2006 .

[9]  Changzhu Li,et al.  The Great 2008 Chinese Ice Storm: Its Socioeconomic–Ecological Impact and Sustainability Lessons Learned , 2011 .

[10]  David Banister,et al.  Embedding resilience in emergency resource management to cope with natural hazards , 2013, Natural Hazards.

[11]  MengChu Zhou,et al.  Understanding the evolution of a disaster—a Framework for Assessing Crisis in a System Environment (FACSE) , 2012, Natural Hazards.

[12]  Allan McConnell,et al.  Preparing for Critical Infrastructure Breakdowns: The Limits of Crisis Management and the Need for Resilience , 2007 .

[13]  Alan T. Murray,et al.  Vital Nodes, Interconnected Infrastructures, and the Geographies of Network Survivability , 2006 .

[14]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[15]  Quansheng Ge,et al.  Historical analogues of the 2008 extreme snow event over Central and Southern China , 2011 .

[16]  Tianrong Huang,et al.  Using Bayesian networks in analyzing powerful earthquake disaster chains , 2013, Natural Hazards.

[17]  Mark S. Granovetter,et al.  The Sociology of Economic Life , 1991 .

[18]  James P. Peerenboom,et al.  Identifying, understanding, and analyzing critical infrastructure interdependencies , 2001 .

[19]  Irene Eusgeld,et al.  "System-of-systems" approach for interdependent critical infrastructures , 2011, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[20]  Enrico Zio,et al.  Modeling Interdependent Network Systems for Identifying Cascade-Safe Operating Margins , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Reliability.

[21]  Jacqueline Glass,et al.  Realising a resilient and sustainable built environment: towards a strategic agenda for the United Kingdom. , 2007, Disasters.

[22]  Milos Manic,et al.  CIMS: A Framework for Infrastructure Interdependency Modeling and Analysis , 2006, Proceedings of the 2006 Winter Simulation Conference.

[23]  Xiangde Xu,et al.  The Dynamic and Thermodynamic Structures Associated with a Series of Heavy Precipitation Events over China during January 2008 , 2010 .

[24]  S. Schiavon,et al.  Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. , 2007 .

[25]  Aromar Revi,et al.  Climate change risk: an adaptation and mitigation agenda for Indian cities , 2008 .