The STREST Project: Harmonized Approach To Stress Tests For Critical Infrastructures Against Low-Probability High-Impact Natural Hazards

Critical infrastructures are the backbone of modern society and provide many essential goods and services to urban areas. Given the risks associated with the impact of natural hazards on critical infrastructures, the move towards safer and more resilient cities requires the development and application of an improved risk assessment framework to address high-impact and low-probability events. In this context, the STREST project developed a stress test framework to determine the risk and resilience of non-nuclear critical infrastructures. In addition, the project developed a consistent modelling approach to hazard, vulnerability, risk and resilience assessment of low-probability and high-consequence events, considering relevant epistemic uncertainties and interdependencies of critical infrastructures. Six key representative critical infrastructures in Europe were selected for exploratory application of the stress test methodology.