Disaster response & resilience
A recent survey revealed that many people believe that natural disasters are more frequent and severe than in the past. It turns out that this observation is backed up by facts. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the frequency of natural disasters is increasing year-over-year. There were 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020, tallying a price tag of at least $92.9 billion.
Month-by-month accumulation of billion-dollar disasters for each year on record. The colored lines represent the top 6 years for most billion-dollar disasters. All other years are colored light gray. NOAA image by NCEI.
A recent survey revealed that many people believe that natural disasters are more frequent and severe than in the past[1]. It turns out that this observation is backed up by facts. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the frequency of natural disasters is increasing year-over-year. There were 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020, tallying a price tag of at least $92.9 billion.[2] These disasters include drought, flooding, hail, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados and other severe weather including winter storms.
When speaking of severity in terms of damage cost, some of the increase is simply because the cost of living has increased, the population has increased and there is more development in vulnerable areas. However, statistics adjusted for inflation show that the cost per capita of natural disasters has increased. In the early 2000s, the average 5-year disaster cost was $150; today that cost is more than $400[1] per person. That’s because billion-dollar disasters have become more frequent.
The cost per capita (see right y-axis in chart) is also rising for the U .S. as a whole meaning that the costs of the billion-dollar disasters is rising more sharply than general population growth.
Local impact
The aggregate view of how natural disasters impact the nation is important, but it’s more important to know how local governments and utilities are preparing for and responding to more frequent and severe natural disasters.
In most areas, people rely on their public works officials to prepare the community for natural disasters. Public works is:
…the combination of physical assets, management practices, policies, and personnel necessary for government to provide and sustain structures and services essential to the welfare and acceptable quality of life for its citizens*.
*According to the American Public Works Association, (APWA)
Studies are revealing
The above definition seems to cover just about everything in municipal government – including disaster preparedness and response. More and more resources and study is focused on managing disasters. Now, the language to describe these events has become more specific. For example, there’s a difference between a disaster and a catastrophe.
First Responders are expected to be seen at the site of any disaster – fire, police and medical services are continually training for worst-case scenarios. Another, less heralded member of this response team is the public works staff who are committed to protecting the nation’s vast public infrastructure and facilities. Public works plays a key role in Homeland Security by ensuring our essential infrastructure is safe from man-made and natural disasters.
According to the APWA:
As First Responders, public works professionals are responsible for many aspects of disaster response, including, and disposing of debris; restoring lifeline services to their communities; managing traffic and transportation for responders, victims, and the public; managing and coordinating municipal vehicles, equipment and manpower; and restoring the infrastructure well after the initial event. Public works is also integral in emergency planning, hardening and security of critical facilities, and ensuring a safe public water supply.[4]
Technology can help reduce the impact of natural disasters
Recovery Survey - Molly Holt, an Army Corps of Engineers infrastructure team civil engineer for Hurricane Ian recovery, conducts a rapid evaluation safety assessment at Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Oct. 19, 2022. Edited image. Original photo by Patrick Moes, Army Corps of Engineers.
Fortunately, technology is helping officials predict and then respond to natural disasters. The ability to analyze large amounts of data from satellites, drones, social media, help officials before, during and after events. AI, machine learning and cloud computing are helping to predict weather, earthquakes, and floods,[5]
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is widely used by municipalities and are uniquely suited to help coordinate emergency response in real time. Location-based data gives officials situational awareness so that they can respond appropriately where help is needed most. This same platform helps municipalities assess damage after a natural disaster.
Berntsen has partnered with Esri’s ArcGIS to leverage RFID to mark infrastructure assets – an approach that can streamline response to disasters. GIS provides a digital map of all infrastructure assets, from buried gas lines to transformers. Unfortunately, in the case of some events, such as earthquakes and floods, these infrastructure assets may actually shift with the landscape, making maps less effective. That’s why some organizations are marking their assets with passive RFID tags. That way, any asset can be positively identified in the field with a quick RFID scan that will automatically link to its data in GIS. These RFID tags don’t require power or line of sight, making them particularly useful after widespread disasters.
Using RFID to help locate infrastructure after a natural disaster was first studied more than 10 years ago, and since that time, this technology has improved and been integrated into Esri’s data collection tools to better locate and verify assets, including assets that may have moved during natural disasters.
Thank you, public works officials
This week, public works officials from across the US and Canada will be meeting to learn about the latest technology and techniques that can make their communities more resilient at the upcoming APWA-PWX meeting in Atlanta. Throughout the year, public affairs officials collaborate locally and regionally to best prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
Here at Berntsen, we’re grateful for the hundreds of thousands of people who support our way of life through public works. We salute the first responders, police, fire, street maintenance, sanitation workers, GIS technicians, city administrators and planners and all the people that make our country a great place to live.
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/natural-disaster-statistics/
[3] https://udspace.udel.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/7f8df691-a569-4374-bf43-a0c6b36c392c/content
[4] The Essential Role of Public Works in Emergency Management, APWA
[5] https://www.hcltech.com/trends-and-insights/10-technologies-reducing-impact-natural-disasters
RFID Improves Data Center Operations
More than 90% of organizations use cloud computing to run enterprise applications. That means that everything from hospitals and first responders to Fortune 500 companies and governments rely on the cloud. Soon, air traffic control and police departments will be cloud-based as well. Society won’t be able to function without the cloud
More than 90% of organizations use cloud computing to run enterprise applications[1]. That means that everything from hospitals and first responders to Fortune 500 companies and governments rely on the cloud. Soon, air traffic control and police departments will be cloud-based as well. Society won’t be able to function without the cloud.
Who makes the cloud, and how does data get there? If you guessed Google, Amazon or Microsoft, (and many others), you’re right. But the information isn’t really in a cloud – it’s often served from data centers through WiFi, so it seems to come from a cloud. But it’s really coming from massive server installations located around the world.
What happens when a data center fails?
Because of the design of data centers, which distribute the load over several locations, a single data center outage may not cause complete loss of service. But it certainly can slow it down – a frustrating event at best. The average cost of data center downtime is more than $5,600 per minute [2] for data interruptions and much more for extended interruptions caused by utility strikes.
That’s why construction companies that build data centers rely on Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create highly accurate digital models of the data center and its critical infrastructure. Knowing the exact location of buried infrastructure is essential before excavation begins.
A digital map shows where underground utilities lie based on survey-grade GPS coordinates. But everyone knows that reality can differ from digital representations due to environmental conditions, miscommunication, or other factors. Few types of construction feature the density of underground infrastructure required by data centers that include:
Chilled water piping
Electrical duct banks and conduits
Telecom duct banks and conduits
Underground fuel systems
A utility strike on any of these systems would be disastrous – with losses in the tens of millions of dollars.
An extra layer of safety
Many firms are seeking improved connectivity between critical field asset identification and GIS data. RFID technology offers a durable, versatile solution that seamlessly connects with GIS information. Passive RFID tags enable precise in-field verification of the location and identity of utilities, eliminating guesswork during excavation and maintenance.
With software that integrates with GIS or BIM, a read of a physical RFID tag launches its digital record, providing not only accurate in-field location, but essential asset data that can include schematics, videos, photos and any other information relevant to the asset. The record is immediately available for updating during excavation, making it easy to keep records accurate and up-to-date.
After construction, utility information can be securely shared with contractors so that they know exactly what’s below. This is incredibly valuable when data center expansion is underway and buried utilities need to be re-accessed. The on-site construction workers can scan RFID tags before digging to verify exactly what’s buried, how deep and what other utilities are near.
A simple tool can prevent disaster and make utility management easier
Building or expanding data centers is a high-risk / high-reward undertaking. A simple, versatile technology that augments existing digital information systems is key to preventing disastrous utility strikes at data centers.
RFID tags can be used underground, or anywhere physical verification of important assets is beneficial. A quick scan of any RFID tag will reveal its exact location and identification while linking it to its record in GIS. This functionality means that each asset can be accurately managed in GIS – assets that require regular maintenance can be quickly accessed, verified and updated in the field. A complete history of every asset is accurately maintained and available to be shared with contractors as needed.
To learn more about how InfraMarker RFID can help prevent utility strikes and manage any asset efficiently, just contact us.
References:
It’s Safe Digging Month - for good reason
As surveyors intimately understand, it’s very important to know what’s below. Your life could depend on it. National Safe Digging Month was created in 2008 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to bring visibility to protecting workers, utilities and the public by working to prevent utility strikes during excavation. This group is comprised of companies and individuals in every facet of the underground utility industry, including Berntsen.
Blog by Emily Pierce, PLS, CFedS
As anyone involved in construction intimately understands, it’s very important to know what’s below. Your life could depend on it. National Safe Digging Month was created in 2008 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to bring visibility to protecting workers, utilities and the public by working to prevent utility strikes during excavation. This group is comprised of companies and individuals in every facet of the underground utility industry, including Berntsen.
It’s interesting to note that although utility strikes are incredibly damaging and expensive (costing an estimated $30 billion annually in societal costs that include direct [facility repair] and indirect [property damage, medical expenses, business closures, etc.*]), there is no nationwide approach to marking, mapping and locating underground utilities. There’s also no requirement to report excavation damages to any centralized clearinghouse, except for the gas industry that reports major incidents to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). That’s why the CGA has developed a voluntary process for reporting strikes and damages.
The organization’s latest report presents the data of this voluntary reporting (and data from the PHMSA) in a very thorough way that looks at every aspect of utility strikes. They’ve found that “year over year, hundreds of thousands of damages occur, and most of them can be attributed to the same handful of persistent root causes.**” With the recent, massive investment in infrastructure, the overall trend of rising damages will likely continue.
The latest Damage Information Report Tool (DIRT) Report (from 2020 data reported in 2021) reveals some interesting information.
Figure 8 above shows the same information for 2020 only. Beginning in 2019 and continuing in 2020, the “big three” root cause groups – No Locate Request, Excavating Issues and Locating Issues – are approximately equal.
U.S. damages were down by about 12% in 2020 vs. 2019, likely due to the initial pandemic response that slowed the trend towards more construction projects. An analysis shows that even though the numbers of reported incidents were down, the same root causes persisted. Twenty-six root causes are tracked year-over-year and five of these account for 70% of the damage events. These five are:
Failure to notify the one call center/811 (the largest root cause of damages)
Excavator dug prior to verifying marks by test-hole (pothole)
Failure to maintain clearance
Abandoned facilities
Locator error
It’s pretty clear that lack of due diligence is behind many of the strikes. Construction projects often have pretty tight deadlines and perhaps field operators don’t feel they have time to call 811 (or maybe they don’t even know 811 is available). Even if a locator has been called, there’s no guarantee that the locator has accurately marked the underground facilities.
Technology to the rescue!
It doesn’t seem like this issue should be impossible to resolve – with today’s technology, solutions are available. Berntsen’s InfraMarker Connected RFID is a solution that could make a huge impact on reducing utility strikes, and it’s already being used in by pipeline companies and in data centers to mark underground utilities. It uses RFID and middleware to tie physical assets to data in Esri’s ArcGIS using Field Maps or Survey123.
As more and more utilities and municipalities adopt GIS, Connected RFID is available to verify location and precisely identify what facilities and conflicts exist underground before excavation. RFID can be read through soil, asphalt and concrete, so anything marked can be located and identified, simply by scanning the RFID marker and accessing the record through Esri’s data collection tools. Data can be shared between utilities, making this essential information available to all.
As more and more infrastructure projects get underway, it’s more important than ever to prevent damaging utility strikes. Connected RFID is leading the way in future-enabling connectivity of any underground (or above ground) asset.
Questions? Contact us.