2010 - World Bank - Reestablishing Transport After Earthquakes

Social order relies on a complex network of infrastructure lifeline systems. When a disaster strikes, restoring lifeline systems is at the heart of restoring social organization.

At the center of lifelines is a multimodal transport system. Highways are among the oldest of lifelines. There are generally significant impacts to transport lifeline systems following an earthquake. These systems can often be interrupted and destroyed as a result of landslides, failed bridges, geographic proximity to a fault line, and liquefaction.

Bridges are usually the most vulnerable link. Following a seismic event, the reestablishment of critical throughways and corridors is essential to recovery efforts. Although each event is site specific, by looking at case studies of past disasters, several lessons can be learned.

This note presents three case studies from the USA on how transport links were re-established.