Deciding Infrastructure Reconstruction Priorities after Disasters: A Literature Review

Disaster reconstruction is costly, and given limited resources, prioritization of the most critical infrastructure elements is necessary. This paper summarizes a literature review exploring how post-disaster reconstruction is performed on a macro-level, meaning the integrated nature of multiple infrastructure systems. This research specifically focused on determining how decision analysis is carried out in real-time application and how those decisions may be influenced by the growing body of knowledge on reconstruction decision making analysis and optimization techniques. The literature reports many different processes that have been developed for prioritizing infrastructure reconstruction, including a number of academic models designed to aid prioritization efforts. For their part, governments and managers of infrastructure systems are making prioritization decisions as disasters strike, but it is unknown whether or not real-world decision-making routinely incorporates these academic prioritization strategies. These results will help inform further research in developing macro-level interdisciplinary decision-making models for effectively prioritizing infrastructure reconstruction.