Blackouts as Crises

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Coping with Critical Infrastructure Failure
The Great Blackout of 2003

• Blackouts as Crises
• Recollections
• Policy Problems
• Comparative Perspectives
• Conclusions

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The Great Blackout of 2003

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The Great Blackout of 2003

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Blackouts as Crises

• Actors perceive
• Threat to key values
• Uncertainy
• Urgency
• Individual and Organizational Stress

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Personal Recollections

• Disorientation and denial
• Lack of information
• Degraded telecommunications
• Cascading effects
• Solidarity
• Reliability/Vulnerability Paradox

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City leaders under stress

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Some of the policy problems facing New York
City

• Cause unknown
• Public order
• Public safety
• City government as blackout victim
• Economic issues

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Comparative Perspectives

• Auckland, New Zealand, 1998
• Eastern Canada, 1998
• Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1999
• Northwest Stockholm, 2001
• Northwest Stockholm, 2002
• North America (NYC), 2003

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Comparative Perspectives

• Scope (Geography and Demography)
• Duration
• Season
• Context
• Other Contingencies

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Conclusions

• Frame of reference
• Solidarity and social capital
• Victims and crisis managers
• Crisis communication and legitimacy
• Learning and obstacles to learning
• Prevention and resilience