The Connections The rare 2011 Virginia Earthquake, a starfish…the connections should be making sense. The sidebar here gives further explanation. What do micropiles have to do with starfish? I argue that clusters of micropiles can act like a starfish where the group disperses the concentrations of loading scenarios. When the forces concentrate towards a single pile, the neighboring piles step in to carry some of the burden. Designing micropile systems with this mentality can produce sustainable and resilient structural systems for acceptable performance in a rare event. In your professional and personal ventures strive to be the resourceful, nimble starfish and resist the pitfalls of the centralized, static spider. Spiders and Starfish How do we deal with rare disasters? Not just earthquakes, but other uncommon events such as tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados, flooding, power outages or terrorist attacks. Not just civil infrastructure, but energy and information infrastructure as well. Our ability to deal with and overcome rare events speaks to the resiliency of a community in the face of adversity. Dr. Kathleen Tierney, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, defines resiliency as “the development and application of social-structural, organizational and institutional arrangements, societal processes, and cultural values, beliefs, and practices that disrupt, compensate for, and overcome societal drivers of social vulnerability.” We now live in an age where we are closer than ever to someone half way across the world. The risks are rising at an alarming rate as population densities concentrate and the frequency of unpredictable natural and man- made disasters increase. The interconnectedness facilitates local disasters having global impacts; it also enables us to collaborate and potentially improve our resilience from afar. Leadership needs to be redefined in order to combat the ever-growing risk of rare disasters. New types of peer-to-peer collaboration, multi-organizational alliances, and networks of stakeholders are emerging and are needed to strengthen our resiliency against threats to our civilization and livelihood. Dr. James Martin, director of the Disaster Risk Management Institute at Virginia Tech, warns that these new groups need to avoid the trap of “assessment and treatment without diagnosis and focus on the root causes of resilience-related problems.” Metaphorically speaking, a community or societal entity can be like a spider or a starfish during a rare incident. Spiders have a central nervous system; if you cut off the head you kill the spider. Montezuma and the Aztecs are a classic example of a spider during the 16th century Spanish Conquest. The one- million strong Aztec Empire were overcome when Cortes and just over 500 soldiers controlled Montezuma, “the head.” Another example of a spider is FEMA after Hurricane Katrina 54 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2013 in New Orleans, where the storm severed the main artery of communication and direction leading to inefficient recovery efforts. Starfish, on the other hand, have no central brain. If you cut off any leg it grows back; they are decentralized creatures. Apaches are an example of a starfish. The Native American tribe was dispersed and proved irrepressible for many Mexican, Spanish and American attempts of territorial acquisition. The group was leaderless with a circular organizational structure spread amongst small villages that became stronger and nomadic with increased stress from the foreign advancements. Other examples of starfish are Napster, Wikipedia, and Al Qaeda; the key is decentralization. Moving forward, society needs to thwart the spider tendencies in how we deal with rare disasters and strive to become starfish. Here are some of the common traits of a sustainable starfish- type organization: 1. Commonly cultivated by a champion, moving aside once momentum is established 2. Fashioned around a fundamental belief or common perceived desire/threat 3. Shared power and trust 4. All members own the problem 5. Associates have no strong tie to identity 6. Enabled by simple communication platforms such as “The Internet” 7. Typically formed from existing networks during establishment 8. Often become stronger as they become more decentralized 9. Tend to provide solutions to problems beyond those originally intended
