Abstract
The recent extreme weather events in Europe and around the world have raised issues about the organization and management of critical infrastructure. There is uncertainty and a lack of information on how infrastructure should be managed when subject to these extreme events. The existence of chaos and uncertainty in these situations can result in disruptions to transport, power outages and in the most extreme instances, loss of life. The 7th Framework RAIN (Risk Analysis of Infrastructure Networks in response to extreme weather) project is addressing these issues, involving partners from Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain. The objective of the RAIN project is to provide an operational analysis framework to minimize the impact of major weather events in the EU. This paper summarizes the work that will be performed in one of the work packages of the RAIN project. This work package will examine the impact of critical infrastructure failure on society, security issues and the economy. Based on a risk analysis framework, a means of quantifying the level of risk will be established. The risk procedure will be benchmarked against case studies conducted on critical transport and operational tactical connections. The project outputs will contribute to the process of knowledge management used in the protection of Critical Infrastructure and will provide a basis for the development of decision support systems.