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National Institute of Building Sciences & Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): HAZUS (Hazards-US)
Problem Statement and Objectives
ARA has been under contract with FEMA and the National Institute of Building Sciences since 1998 to develop the HAZUS hurricane wind loss estimation model. HAZUS-MH is FEMA’s nationally-applicable, multi-hazard damage and loss estimation tool and is a tool for emergency managers and other government officials for planning, response, and mitigation analyses. HAZUS-MH is a geographical information system that includes extensive databases of populations and the built environment in the United States.
The hurricane model predicts physical damage, social losses, and economic losses due to hurricane winds. Some of the tasks in the project include: storm surge modeling, developing rapid loss estimates, uncertainties and improved reporting, accounting for the effects of storm duration, island territories modeling, hurricane wind field models, tree blow down models, mitigation options for additional building types, supporting software build development, and providing technical support. The third release of HAZUS is planned for 2006. HAZUS was used extensively during the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons at the federal, regional, state and local levels to estimate damages, loss, debris and post-storm public shelter requirements.
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