Resilience of the canterbury hospital system to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake

Caitlin C. Jacques, Jason McIntosh, Sonia Giovinazzi, Thomas D. Kirsch, Thomas Wilson, Judith Mitrani-Reiser

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

The paper analyzes the performance of a hospital system using a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. Data on impacts to the hospital system were collected using a standardized survey tool. A fault-tree analysis method is adopted to assess the functionality of critical hospital services based on three main contributing factors: staff, structure, and stuff. Damage to utility networks and to nonstructural components was found to have the most significant effect on hospital functionality. The functional curve is integrated over time to estimate the resilience of the regional acute-care hospital with and without the redistribution of its major services. The ability of the hospital network to offer redundancies in services after the earthquake increased the resilience of the Christchurch Hospital by 12%. The resilience method can be used to assess future performance of hospitals, and to quantify the effectiveness of seismic retrofits, hospital safety legislation, and new seismic preparedness strategies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)533-554
Number of pages22
JournalEarthquake Spectra
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2014
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Geophysics

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