PUSHING THE ENVELOPE – INNOVATIVE USES OF FEMA'S HAZUS-MH FOR ASSESSING RISK AND INFORMING POLICY MAKERS

FEMA’s HAZUS-MH (Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard) assessment tool was originally designed to help professionals assess the risks to society and infrastructure from natural hazards. HAZUS-MH runs within the ArcGIS environment and models the local or regional response to a natural hazard. HAZUS-MH then assesses the impact of that hazard on the man formed environment. HAZUS-MH is extensively used by FEMA and local governments in the development of their hazards and emergency response plans. Additionally, HAZUS-MH is used to model the effects mitigation actions on the outcomes of a natural disaster.

The Low Country Hazards Center (LCHC) at the College of Charleston has been working with both state and local governments to improve the information and range of scenarios that can be developed by using HAZUS. We will highlight three projects undertaken at the LCHC to show the power of the HAZUS-MH application for linking the natural hazards to societal risk assessment. Each project will focus on how one aspect of HAZUS can be enhanced to create a more meaningful risk assessment in the Charleston SC region. Each of the following topics will be covered: methods for improving the NEHRP soils maps for earthquake mitigation, developing links to coastal flood models to hurricane wind models, and assessing the impacts of climate change (increased storm intensities, and sea level rise).