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HAZUS User Group Success Stories
FEMA produces several success stories each year to highlight outstanding work by HAZUS User Groups and HAZUS users. These stories are sorted by FEMA Region.
Earthquake Stories
FEMA Region 9
HIHUG: Hawaii HAZUS Atlas
For instant earthquake analysis in Hawaii, turn to the Hawaii HAZUS Atlas. The twenty plausible earthquake scenarios will assist any emergency manager with all phases of disaster planning.
NVHUG: Loss Estimation Modeling of Earthquake Scenarios for Each County in Nevada Using HAZUS-MH
Quickly visualize earthquake losses for all Counties in Nevada with these HAZUS studies.
FEMA Region 10
ORHUG: Geologic Hazards and Future Earthquake Damage and Loss Estimates for Six Counties in Mid/Southern Willamette Valley, Oregon
The “Partnership” helps Oregon counties with hazard maps, damage estimates and mitigation plan management.
Flood Stories
FEMA Region 3
3RiversHUG: Formed by the California University of Pennsylvania
California University of Pennsylvania bringing HAZUS expertise to local governments in Southwestern Pennsylvania through research and service projects.
3RiversHUG: CUP Students Begin A New Chapter in HAZUS History
Find out how students at CUP are using HAZUS to assist municipal governments with all levels of emergency management.
FEMA Region 4
Using HAZUS for Flood Loss Estimates and CRS Flood Mitigation Planning
HAZUS-MH used by the City of Savannah, Georgia to meet their goals to assess and quantify current flood hazard risks using new geospatial data and best available technology; to increase public and stakeholder involvement in the City’s mitigation planning efforts; and to maximize potential credit points under FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) through quality plan development and implementation.
FEMA Region 5
Wisconsin Emergency Management: Using HAZUS-MH to Evaluate Flood Risks and Losses across the State
Leveraging HAZUS methodology, the state of Wisconsin, conducted 100 year flood analysis for the whole state.
FEMA Region 6
Louisiana State University: Using the Power of HAZUS to Study a Flood-prone State
Michelle Barnett used HAZUS to analyze damage estimates for flood prone parishes in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
FEMA Region 7
FEMA Region VII: Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Collaborates with the University of Iowa Department of Geography to Assess Flooding Impacts Using HAZUS-MH
June 9, 2008, Johnson County Emergency Management Director Dave Wilson anxiously watched as floodwaters rose to record levels of 28 feet upstream. Forecasts called for more rain, painting a grim picture for the County. Visualizing a repeat of the 1993 flood, Dave realized that using paper maps to plan response and recovery would not be a viable option…
Wind Stories
FEMA Region 4
NCHUG: Incorporating HAZUS-MH Methodologies to Assist with Mitigation Planning and Hurricane Operations
Dare County, SC uses HAZUS in their updated mitigation plan to show the potential damages to infrastructure and buildings as well as potential economic impacts during wind events.
FLHUG: A Catalyst for Mitigating Risks and Improving Collaboration Between Florida’s Emergency Management Professionals
Florida finds a way to achieve “economies of scale,” by forming the FLHUG and mitigating risks using HAZUS.
FEMA Region 6
ARHUG: Proving HAZUS Capabilities for Mitigation and Business Continuity Planning
Arkansas Tech University’s use of HAZUS shows the benefits that the HAZUS data offers in microanalysis situations.
TXHUG: Using HAZUS-MH Runs to Calculate Debris and Commodity Needs for Hurricanes
How many truck loads of debris are generated? How many bottles of water or MRE’s are needed to feed the workers clearing debris? Quantifiable answers are available through the commodity needs spreadsheet.
Multi-Hazard Stories
FEMA Region 1
Using HAZUS for Exercise Scenarios, by Dan O’Brien, Program Manager, New York State Emergency Management Office
Exercises are a major component of emergency preparedness. They provide the testing, evaluation and groundwork for improving target emergency management capabilities as outlined by FEMA’s Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). Short of a major disaster, exercises assemble and focus the emergency management community more than any other activity or event. As such, tools that can contribute to the success and value of these exercises take on a particular significance.
FEMA Region 4
South Carolina HAZUS User Group Develops
from the Successful CDMS Web Portal Project
Building on momentum of HAZUS training and the CDMS Web Portal Project, Melissa Berry forms the SCHUG to create a network of hazard professionals to generate high level risk assessments.
FEMA Region IV: Strengthens Disaster Preparedness Nationwide by Sharing HAZUS Expertise
What can the FEMA Region IV HAZUS Technical Team do for you? They provide assistance using HAZUS for the highest levels of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
FEMA Region 5
CHUG: Expanding HAZUS Use in FEMA Region 5
The six states in FEMA Region V bonded through planning for natural disasters and using the HAZUS methodology.
FEMA Region 9
Tribal Governments: Using HAZUS-MH for American Indian Reservation’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Planning
Sovereign Indian nations are gathering data and using HAZUS for mitigation planning despite the Reservation designation of “unincorporated area” without publicly accessible data.
New York State Emergency Management Office
Using HAZUS for Exercise Scenarios
The New York State Emergency Management Office and its partner Exercise Planning Teams, responsible for the design and oversight of exercises, have found that HAZUS, FEMA’s loss estimation tool for earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, is very useful supporting their efforts to create exercise scenarios that are well tailored to specific regions, are realistic and more accurate than would be possible to develop without significant additional investment. The “enhanced” scenarios made possible by HAZUS can be a great benefit to exercises. For exercise players, they can foster a realism that increases the intensity of play and help stimulate critical thinking and discussion amongst players through commonly shared and familiar real world references. For the exercise participants
at large they can provide new insights on risk and contribute to the overall awareness of the hazard used for the scenario.
Exercise planners responsible for developing the Master Scenario Event List - MSEL (the chronological timeline of expected actions and events to be injected into exercise play) are able to use the range of loss calculations that HAZUS provides, i.e. building damage, essential facility functionality, casualties, debris, sheltering, fire, economic loss, utility outages and restoration rates, to establish a broad foundational picture of a situation from which site specific incidents,
not necessarily modeled by HAZUS, can be scripted. This helps the weaving of a cohesive storyline. For instance, HAZUS will predict a certain number of ignitions from an earthquake, fire station functionality, debris distribution by census tract and number of pipeline leaks and breaks. This information helps craft the MSEL establishing specific locations of fires as well of complications encountered by certain fire departments such as fire station garage doors that don’t open, low water pressure or roads that are impassible.
