Chair: Mr. Constantin ZBARNEA, WG3 Leader, PIARC TC 1.5, Romania

In recent years, natural disasters have tended to become more frequent and more severe. In many cases, natural disasters affect the functioning of roads. The impact on road functions is likely to lead to the disruption of supply chains and people mobility, which may have a significant impact on social and economic activities.
Therefore, it is an important responsibility of road managers to maintain or immediately restore road functions and secure the conectivity and transitability in the event of a disaster. In other words, road managers are required to take appropriate actions in each one stage of disaster management: mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery to keep economic and social effects under certain control.
In order to avoid unforeseen events, it is important to consider the worst-case scenario for disasters, however, it is not realistic to prevent or minimize technical impact of roads on such disasters, that for sure will impact financially. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce and minimize technical as well as financial impacts of disasters on roads to sustain the supply chain by implementing comprehensive countermeasures from both perspectives, structural and non-structural.
This session will provide an opportunity to share the world's efforts to sustain supply chains in disaster management focusing on financial aspects regading sustainable road operations in the face of natural disasters.