Introductory HAZUS Webinars Available

Hazus is a nationally applicable standardized methodology that contains models for estimating potential losses from earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Hazus uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to estimate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters.

HAZUS-MH is software developed by FEMA that analyzes risk from natural hazards in communities. Although Hazus-MH itself is free, it requires the users to have ArcGIS with ArcView license level.

Existing HAZUS-MH runs for Vashon (i.e. those for our 2005 Earthquake Study, USGS analysis for their April 2010 fact sheet #3023 , and the recent Evergreen Quake runs) have used older versions of HAZUS and don’t incorporate some of the latest geographic data becoming available as part of the Vashon-Maury Island Coastal Flood Hazard Mapping project – which has resulted in some excellent new very detailed (e.g., 2 foot contours!) maps of Vashon’s shoreline. New more accurate runs are anticipated to be done in the coming months, and will use the latest version which incorporates liquefaction modeling. I’m working to see if local Vashon volunteers might help to enhance the quality of building data used - to ensure the best results are produced.

FEMA's Region X office will be offering 1 hour webinars on HAZUS in the next several weeks. These trainings are meant for the region's community officials, planners, GIS specialists, emergency manager’s, etc. The trainings are not overly technical, but rather provide an overview of how HAZUS works and how the outputs can be used.

Overview of HAZUS Earthquake Loss Estimations will be held on October 28^th at 10:00 am

Preparing Data for HAZUS will be held on November 9 at 10:00am

Disaster volunteers and professionals can register for these free, online webinars at the following web site:

https://atkinsglobalna.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=atkinsglobalna&service=7