Return to Hazards Center Home Page
Phil Schneider discussed HAZUS, a standardized nationally applicable earthquake loss estimation methodology implemented through a PC-based geographic information system software. HAZUS is being developed under the Multihazard Loss Estimation Program sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). HAZUS is an essential element of FEMA's National Mitigation Strategy. Understanding the scope and complexity of earthquake damage is essential to effective preparedness. HAZUS will be expanded to include flood and wind loss estimation and risk. FEMA intends to utilize HAZUS as a standardized basis for loss estimation.
Stu Nishenko added that the HAZUS program can assist communities in accounting for the effects of different sizes and intensities of quakes. The basic calculations are made at the census tract level. The program uses U.S. Geological Survey seismic hazard maps and crosses them with county data. HAZUS is used as a tool for policy decisions and provides a means of looking at the problems nationally with consistent information.
Klaus Jacob described his project in the metropolitan New York area which includes 20 million people. Economic losses were calculated for various magnitude earthquakes based on the location of the 1884 earthquake near present-day John F. Kennedy International Airport. His results show that there is a serious impact after a 6.0 quake and that the biggest losses are nonstructural ones. The idiosyncracies of each local area are impossible to take into account on a national level, Jacob told the group. A key mapping problem is occupancy with relation to building types and this must be done locally. A problem encountered with HAZUS is that it is slow to compute.
Tom Durham discussed the training and demonstration project in Evansville, Indiana, using HAZUS to get the mitigation process working. The project was designed to overcome the barriers to using HAZUS and to get commitments from key decision makers and business people. The challenge was to get the private sector involved and Durham stated that they underestimated what it would take. In order to make the project work, he stressed the need for accountability.
Joe Minor is responsible for the committee setting up the wind module of HAZUS. The program will allow for calibrating damage versus restoration and then validation against insured losses. Real time wind field data from NOAA will be fed directly into the model and thus it will be possible to forecast real time loss estimates when plugging in the actual hurricane.
Louise Comfort asked the panel if HAZUS was being used for losses or for an inventory for the community. Phil Schneider responded by saying that the intent was that the data could be used by other agencies in the community for other functions. Klaus Jacob said there is a need to measure fragility better and that HAZUS should be seen as a placeholder for the current state of knowledge.
Return to Hazards Center Home Page
Return
to Index of 1998 Session Summaries