Step 3a: Identify critical facilities categories.

The completion of a critical facilities analysis is probably one of the most important elements in a community-wide vulnerability assessment. The first step in this analysis is to determine which facilities you consider to be critical facilities. Start by determining your critical facilities categories and prepare to organize your database accordingly.

The critical facility categories for New Hanover County include:

• Shelters
• Schools
• Hospitals and Nursing Homes
• Fire and Rescue
• Police
• Utilities
• Communications
• Transportation
• Government

Step 3b: Complete a critical facilities inventory.

Most local emergency management offices collect and maintain information on certain categories of critical facilities. This information may provide a starting point for your critical facilities inventory. It is important to collect accurate information about these facilities and their locations as these data will be essential for completing the individual facility assessments in the next step of this analysis.

The data collected for New Hanover County's database includes:

• Facility type
• Facility name
• Street address
• City
• State
• Zip
• Owner/operator
• Contact name
• Contact title
• Contact telephone
• 24-hour telephone
• Township
• Fire district

Figure 3.16

The facility locations shown above represent critical community resources.

Figure 3.17

The facility locations shown above represent special needs populations that are also included in New Hanover County’s critical facilities database. These are locations where special attention is given to disaster preparedness and hazard mitigation due to the high concentration of vulnerable populations.

Step 3c: Identify intersections of critical facilities with high-risk areas.

This step helps you identify the hazard risks associated with your critical facilities. In the case study, summary hazard risk scores were applied to all of New Hanover County’s critical facilities. The structures located in high-risk areas were targeted by New Hanover County as priority facilities for conducting detailed structural and operational vulnerability analysis.

Figure 3.18

The map above depicts the hazard risk scores of New Hanover County’s critical facilities.

Step 3d: Conduct vulnerability assessment on all critical facilities.

After the critical facilities inventory has been completed, an analysis should be performed to determine the vulnerability of each critical facility to the various hazards. For each hazard being addressed in New Hanover County, the critical facilities were evaluated for hazard risks, along with damage history and structural and operational vulnerability. The facility vulnerability assessment form is shown below.

Notice that tornado hazards have been deleted from New Hanover County's hazard list for this assessment since it is not one of the hazards being addressed from a structural hazard mitigation standpoint. The assessment items are explained below:

• Facility Name - Identify the facility by its unique name or identifying code for purposes of incorporating data into critical facility database.

• Critical Facility Category - Identify the category for purposes of analysis by type of critical facility.

• Hazard Category Priority Score - From Step 1b, enter the relative priority matrix total for each of the hazards being addressed.

• Risk Consideration Area Score - From Step 2b, enter the scores for each hazard risk consideration area where the facility is located.

• Damage History Score - Based on historical records or personal accounts, identify any known previous damages caused specifically by each of the hazards. This should help give a clear indication of vulnerability based on past experience. The scoring range in this category is higher than that in the structural and operational categories because the determination is less subjective and serves as direct proof of vulnerability.

• Structural Vulnerability Score - This item requires some knowledge about the construction of the facility and the existing building codes governing local construction. While this assessment is rather subjective, it is a first-level effort at identifying facilities that require more thorough structural investigation.

• Operational Vulnerability Score - This item will aid in the prioritization of hazard mitigation activities. By defining the potential operational impacts from each hazard, the highest scores should be given to the most catastrophic or life-threatening impacts. Loss of facilities alone (especially if some redundancy is available) does not necessarily constitute significant loss of operational capability.

• Facility Vulnerability Score - The items should be totaled to determine an overall score. Although individual item scores should be compared to establish trends and identify specific deficiencies, the total score can help establish a broad prioritization option.

• Vulnerability Determination - Based on all of the scores for an individual facility, some threshold should be established for determining low, moderate, and high vulnerability. These thresholds will help to establish a focused list of vulnerable critical facilities.

Figure 3.19

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