Reconstruction of critical and interdependent infrastructure due to catastrophic natural disasters: Lessons learned

Several researchers have conducted researches to measure characteristics of post-disaster reconstruction. The lessons learned from preceding post-disaster reconstruction processes help to prevent resource misallocation and assists to achieve of a reliable planning after a disaster. Hence, the potential barriers should be identified because it is significantly important to accurately predict cost and time of recovery. The barriers which lead to delays in the process of reconstruction are more prominent for this purpose. This study aimed to identify potential barriers to the reconstruction of critical infrastructure and transportation systems and assess their validation. The potential barriers to effective reconstruction were primarily identified by a comprehensive literature review. Next, interviews with experts in post-disaster recovery was conducted to collect their viewpoints and lessons learned. Eventually, qualitative data analysis was performed on the collected data. The results of current research demonstrated the agreement of interviewees on the impact of the majority of the potential barriers; however, their different experiences lead to discords in some of the barriers' importance and priority. In addition, implementing quantitative method in this study showed the applicability of such approaches for improving post-disaster reconstruction and recovery process. The current research conveyed an efficient approach for evaluation of reconstruction characteristics in the disaster-affected communities with limited resources and offered knowledge for improving studies relative to disaster reconstruction by identifying and validating the important barriers to effective reconstruction.