Review of Climate Risk Analysis in Infrastructures

Abstract

Infrastructures are designed to have a long useful life, being the phase of exploitation the longest period. This phase requires important economic resources to ensure the optimum and safe conditions of service of the infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to review the main research projects carried out in the last years related to natural and climate risk analysis in infrastructures, trying to identify the future lines of research. The need to maintain the functionality of basic systems is clearly. Different international organizations and governments worldwide are taking measures to minimize the impacts that natural events may have on their infrastructures and population. In recent years, the number of research projects aimed at studying the evolution of climate, natural hazards and/or the resilience of infrastructures has increased greatly. 45 research projects related to the study of natural risks and infrastructures was reviewed. Society cannot afford to rebuild a 20-year-old infrastructure that has been built for a useful life of 100 years. This entails a high economic, environmental and social waste. Consequently, it is necessary to validate a methodology of analysis of climatic risks, which also facilitates the decision making on the measures to be established to increase resilience.