FLHUG
Florida HAZUS-MH Users Group

The State of Florida- The Florida HAZUS User Group (FLHUG) was formally organized in January 2006 when the group met to elect officers, create committees, form regions, and adopt a charter. Rick Burgess, City of Punta Gorda, was elected President.

The overall goal of the FLHUG is to promote the use of HAZUS-MH across the state of Florida to improve risk assessments, mitigation, preparedness and disaster response.

One way of doing this is through a committee structure, including the Outreach Committee, Technical Committee/Data Group, and Training Committee.

With regard to outreach, acknowledging that effective outreach is key to building a strong constituency of HAZUS-MH users, the FLHUG has “taken HAZUS-MH on the road” and demonstrated its use at conferences and workshops across the state. Training sessions have also been provided by the FLHUG, taking advantage of the six HAZUS-MH vendors in the state.

The second main committee is the Technical/Data Committee. Since its inception, a priority of the FLHUG has been to coordinate the statewide collection and processing of high-resolution hazard inventory data, and to integrate the data into HAZUS-MH. A Data Group was formed, headed by Tracy Toutant, Sarasota County, to coordinate the FLHUG’s data management strategy.

At the outset, one of the objectives was to develop a “master state database” that was consistent with the Florida DEM datasets. Richard Butgereit, GIS Administrator, Florida DEM, continues to work very closely with the FLHUG Data Group to coordinate State and local data needs assessment, data collection, and data sharing.

Training may be viewed as the “engine” that moves FLHUG. The goal is to make quality HAZUS-MH training available in all Florida regions in the next two years, in close coordination with Florida DEM and the Florida ESRI Group.

The FLHUG has a core group of experienced HAZUS-MH users who can lead a statewide training initiative in Florida, including four members who are FEMA authorized HAZUS-MH vendors under the Private Sector Initiative.

In 2008, several revised and updated courses will be offered through FEMA that incorporate changes in HAZUS-MH MR3. The FLHUG will be able to capitalize on these courses through field training in the Florida regions.