Chilean software helps reduce the effect of natural disasters on roads

Chile is a country with a long history of natural disasters. On many occasions, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions or heavy rains have damaged roads and highways, leaving parts of the territory isolated. Is it possible, based on what has happened in the past, to foresee how the road infrastructure will respond to disasters?

That question was asked almost 20 years ago Dr. Tomas Echaveguren Navarro, an academic from the University of Concepción, who together with the Directorate of Roads and the EULA Center began to study the effects of natural events on the road network. In a first stage, he compiled information on the road closures produced from 1999 to 2009, classifying the level of risk that each route had of being affected by these incidents.

“The available scientific research is our starting point. We asked ourselves the question about how we can transform this knowledge into something that is useful for engineers and geographers, but also has scientific support, that is, that has credibility in its conception and development”, explained the academic.

With this in mind, he joined the Dr. Alondra Chamorro Giné, of the Pontificia Universidad Católica, developing models that allow estimating the risk of road closures. After years of research, the Ministry of Public Works was finally granted the license to operate software capable of analyzing the physical risk or social vulnerability of the network in the face of each threat.

The tool, called “Road Network Risk Management System” (SiGeR-RV), also has the ability to optimize mitigation and restoration strategies, as well as analyze and prioritize maintenance costs and budget allocation.

“The platform will be housed in the MOP so that it can be used as a public good and will allow the identification of the most critical infrastructures within the network and, based on that, optimize the investment to have a more resilient network, with less risk and, therefore, with fewer negative impacts for society”, explained Professor Chamorro.

Anticipate and respond to disasters

The strategic value of this technology is that it responds to the Hyogo and Sendai treaties, which establish that countries must be resilient in the face of natural disasters and climate change. “We have to prepare and get used to it because these threats will continue to increase,” said Dr. Chamorro. “First we must understand how our infrastructure works and how we can invest strategically, understanding the scarcity of resources.” To do this, the platform allows extreme events of natural emergencies to be simulated and reports on critical situations, such as weakened bridges, road closures or other effects.

The National Director of Roads (MOP), Jaime Retamal, highlighted that the software proposes a preventive look, which facilitates the design and planning of public policies. “Events that used to happen after a certain number of decades may now be happening every two or three years and therefore the way we traditionally did planning and design of public structure is no longer the same,” he added. The speed with which we can get in tune with these needs results in a greater social benefit for our people”.

Retamal stressed that the pillar of this project is collaboration between the State, universities and private agents. Indeed, at different stages actors such as the National Emergency Office (Onemi) the National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin), the trade association COPSA -which brings together road concession companies in our country- the Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Risk Management (Cigiden), the Institute of UC Geographyand international researchers such as Dr. Susan Cutter, an academic from the University of South Carolina, as well as experts from the universities of Delaware, Boulder Colorado and Oakland University (USA).

Technology “made in Chile”

Similar systems already exist in countries such as the United States and New Zealand. An example is Hazus, developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, these technologies do not integrate all the threats that may affect Chile, such as the risk of tsunamis or volcanic eruptions. “The level of detail that we are achieving is very specific and characteristic of our geography and our threats,” said Dr. Echaveguren.

“This case of collaborative and interdisciplinary research, with a concrete social impact and whose results will be managed by a public institution, fills us with pride”, he commented. Andrea Catalan Wolvesexecutive director of the Office of Transfer and Licensing of the University of Concepción.

This is an example of how progress is being made in the search for the development of science with an impact in Chile. “Technology transfer is a virtuous tool for society to benefit from the abilities, experiences and visions of the future of researchers, and the professionals at OTL UdeC are dedicated to accompanying and supporting these processes,” he added.

The software, which will be able to monitor non-concession roads through the MOP, must be constantly updated, with which it could advance to concession roads and other critical infrastructure.

Some cases already analyzed through simulations are the roads that join the districts of Villarrica and Pucón, the connectivity of Santiago with the ports of San Antonio and Valparaíso, and the danger of landslides in the Maipo and Aconcagua basins, allowing to anticipate the effect of potential damage to electricity distribution and drinking water, accessibility and concentration of vehicular traffic, among other uses.