THE FRUGAL ECO INNOVATION: HOW TO DO MORE WITH LESS IN TIME OF CRISIS

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The dependency of society on the proper functioning of critical infrastructures (CIs) has been highlighted in recent natural disasters. CIs set up complex and interconnected systems and consequently a failure in one CI can spread to other dependent sectors. This represents a further complication in the response phase of a crisis, increasing the impact of natural disasters and seriously affecting the welfare of society. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the important role that CIs have on the overall impact of a crisis caused by a natural disaster. For that reason, a simulation model that represents the effects of a storm on an island with interdependent CIs has been developed. This simulation model has a pedagogical purpose in which the effects of applying different crisis management policies can be simulated. This type of simulation models can represent different crisis scenarios. Therefore, simulation models can be used by crisis managers allowing them to identify good practices and areas of improvement in face of future events. Keywords: Crisis management, impact evaluation, critical infrastructure, interdependencies, natural disaster.