Digital Sandbox launches risk analysis initiative for Hampton Roads, central Virginia
Infrastructure catalog is essential first step in risk management strategy; Digital Sandbox will identify and catalog potential natural hazards and terrorist threats as well as critical infrastructure and key resources throughout the area.
In the fall of this year, Maclean, Virginia-based Digital Sandbox, Inc., a provider of analytic risk management software and services, launched a comprehensive effort on behalf of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) in Virginia to enhance the region’s risk analysis capability. The company will identify and catalog potential natural hazards and terrorist threats as well as critical infrastructure and key resources throughout the Hampton Roads and Central Virginia Urban Areas. Digital Sandbox says these inputs will allow the company to produce quantified risk analyses, providing the foundation for a detailed regional capability assessment.
According to Digital Sandbox president Anthony Beverina, HRPDC leadership recognized the high concentration and diversity of economic, civic, and military assets throughout the urban area, and is proactively taking steps to ensure that threat assessment and risk analysis capabilities are in synch with the region’s needs. “The Hampton Roads area is distinct for its profound geographic, economic, and population diversity,” explained Beverina. “It is home to deep rural areas as well as dense concentrations of urban development. It has one of the nation’s major ports in Norfolk, popular national tourism destinations and historical landmarks in Williamsburg and Jamestown, and also includes the Commonwealth’s capital, Richmond. It also hosts several major universities, medical schools, and medical centers.”
Beverina added that the Digital Sandbox effort will produce the first comprehensive catalog of critical assets and key infrastructure based on the specific needs of local jurisdictions, rather than federal or state criteria. The process will involve participants from multiple jurisdictions and disciplines, including civil engineering, public utilities, communications, and transportation, in addition to public safety stakeholders from emergency management, police, fire, and health organizations. Experts from each of these fields throughout the region are contributing to the effort under Digital Sandbox’s direction.
“Ultimately,” concluded Beverina, “we will implement the most effective risk management and risk mitigation capability possible for the HRPDC. This is the first step to their being able to make truly informed risk-based decisions, and to clearly quantify the benefits of their risk management programs.”
Digital Sandbox, founded in 1998, provides analytic tools and information products to government agencies and large enterprises, enabling them to optimize their strategic, policy, and budgetary decisions for risk-based resource allocation.
