Summary of Databases in HAZUS-MH

HAZUS inventory consists of hazard data, boundary map data, and a proxy for the general building stock (GBS) in the continental United States, Hawaii and the U.S. held Territories. Additionally, HAZUS contains National data for essential facilities, high potential loss facilities, selected transportation and lifeline systems, agriculture, and vehicles and demographics.

Hazard Data

Hurricane Model

In the Hurricane Model land-use data is derived from National Land Cover Data  (NLCD) compiled in 1992 by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. This is a partnership of six Federal environmental monitoring programs along with the EROS Data Center of the USGS. For the State of Florida, the land-use data is derived from the Florida Water Management District  land use land cover data compiled in 1995. This comprises data from the five Water Management Districts (WMD), namely, North West Florida WMD, St. Johns River WMD, South West Florida WMD, South Florida WMD and Suwannee WMD.

The terrain database for the State of Hawaii was developed in 2000 using the Hawaii Statewide GIS Program. This program is a multi-agency effort to establish and promote the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology in Hawaii State Government.

The historic storm and a probabilistic storm set in the hurricane model use the Atlantic basin hurricane database or HURDAT (see note #1) encompassing the period 1886-2001. The probabilistic storm set goes through 1995.  HURDAT is the official record of tropical storms and hurricanes for the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including those that have made landfall in the United States.

The tree database in the HAZUS-MH hurricane model is derived from the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) compiled by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium and Forestry Inventory Analysis Data from 2000.  Forestry Inventory and Analysis data is developed by the U.S. Forest Service and consists of a Nationwide inventory by species and contains tree count, and tree diameter distribution. The data is updated every 5 years.

Flood Model

In the Flood Model, USGS' National Elevation Database (NED) is downloaded for use as topographical data.  Shorelines and land features for coastal states and territories are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 TIGER dataset  (see note #2) processed by ABS Consulting in 2003.  Data on dunes is provided by Christopher Jones, P.E. (2003) (see note #3) .

Hydrologic calculations, population density, runoff coefficients and soils data are derived from "Compilation of GIS Data Layers for Flash Flood Forecasting" published by the Michigan Technological University for the National Weather Service (date unknown).  This document and the "Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4002"  are used for soil permeability (see note #4).  For default hydrologic regions, the source is the "Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4002."   The percentage of basin storage is derived from EPA RF3 (reach file 3) data files  (see also note #5), and hydrologic region identifiers and regression equation parameters for computation from the "Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4002."   Random variables come from the Tables of K Values found on page 3-1 of USGS' "Guidelines for Determining Flood Flow Frequency", Bulletin #17B of the Hydrology Subcommittee, March, 1982.

Default river reaches and water sheds are derived from National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center data (developed by Michael Baker), 1998, default stream gage locations from the U.S. Geological Survey WATSTORE Database, 1998, and frequency-based discharge data associated with the default reaches from the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center and the "Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4002."

Raster data sets include percentage of forest cover derived from the "Compilation of GIS Data Layers for Flash Flood Forecasting" published by the Michigan Technological University for the National Weather Service (date unknown).  High elevation indices, 24 hour precipitation, temperature and average precipitation data, runoff data and additional soil data for types A and D come from the "Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4002."

Earthquake Model

In the Earthquake Model, the probabilistic ground motion data is provided by USGS.  Earthquake faults are developed from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, CO with enhancements by the State agencies of California and Nevada.  Historical earthquake epicenters were compiled from several catalog and databases: the ANSS Worldwide Earthquake Catalog, the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) database, and the Earthquake Seismicity Catalog Volume 1 (NOAA/USGS) (see note #6).  The ANSS (Advanced National Seismic System) composite catalog is a world-wide earthquake catalog that is created by merging the master earthquake catalogs from contributing ANSS institutions and then removing duplicates for the same event. The ANSS earthquake catalog grew out of the efforts of the CNSS (Council of the National Seismic System). It was previously called the CNSS earthquake catalog. The NEIC data base is maintained by the USGS Earthquake Hazard Program, National Earthquake Information Center. 

Notes:

  1. The contact information for HURDAT is the Hurricane Research Division in the NOAA/ National Weather Service, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National Hurricane Center, Tropical Prediction Center, 11691 SW 17th Street, Miami, Florida, 33165-2149 USA.
  2. The contact information for the Census Bureau is: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division. 8903 Presidential Parkway, Room 303 WP I, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, 20772. Telephone: (301) 457-1128.  E-Mail Address: tiger@census.gov.
  3. Contact information is Christopher P. Jones, P.E., 5525 Jomali Drive, Durham, NC 27705, 919.382.0130 voice, 919.382.8742 fax, hazards@chris-jones.mailshell.com
  4. Jennings, M.E., Thomas, W.O., and Riggs, H.C., 1994.  Nationwide Summary of U.S. Geological Survey regional regression equations for estimating magnitude and frequency of floods for ungaged sites, 1993: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4002.
  5. The structure and content of the Reach File databases were created expressly to establish hydrologic ordering, to perform hydrologic navigation for modeling applications, and to provide a unique identifier for each surface water feature, i.e., reach codes. The compilation of the data from RF1 and RF2, the USGS Geographic Names Information System database, and the 1988 USGS 1:100,000 scale Digital Line Graph hydrographic layer produced the interim database known as RF3-Alpha (US EPA, 1994).  RF3 is the precursor to the current National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) maintained by USGS.
  6. To develop the HAZUS-MH historic epicenter database, earthquakes with magnitude equal to 5.0 or greater were selected. For each, the date, magnitude, depth and catalog information was extracted.  The HAZUS-MH epicenter database contains 8,767 epicenters. 

Back To Top

Boundary Maps

HAZUS contains GIS boundary maps for the U.S. and the Territories with four GIS map layers: states (or territories), counties, census tracts and census blocks. This data set was developed from the 2000 version of Census TIGER/Line® files. Census Tract and County boundaries were clipped to take account of the coastal configuration.  

Census TIGER/Line files are compiled from a variety of sources (USGS topographic maps, GBF/DIME-files, aerial photography, etc.).  The U.S. Census Bureau does not verify the accuracy of feature updates added by its field staff or features derived from GBF/DIME-Files or other map or digital sources. Only the positional accuracy of USGS sources from the United States National Map Accuracy Standards is considered approximate.  The positional accuracy varies with the scale of the source map used (such as 1:20,000, 1:24,000, 1:30,000, 1: 63,000 and 1:100,000).

Back To Top

General Building Stock

The key GBS databases in HAZUS include square footage by occupancy, building count by occupancy and general occupancy mapping.  For these databases, residential structures are derived from Census 2000 and non-residential structures are derived from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). Three reports from the Department of Energy (DOE) were used in defining regional variations in characteristics such as number and size of garages, type of foundation, and number of stories.  The inventory's baseline floor area is based on a distribution contained in the DOE's Energy Consumption Report. 

D&B utilizes the Census Bureau Tiger/line files to geolocate and reference businesses in their database by the reported address.  D&B aggregated the data to the Census block level utilizing the assigned block polygon from the geolocation process.  The list of documents used to develop the general building stock inventory is as follows:

Back To Top

Essential Facilities

Essential facilities in HAZUS include hospitals, police stations, fire stations, schools and emergency operations centers classified by building structure type and occupancy class.

The police station and fire station datasets were developed from geocoded data from 2001 based on the SIC for the entire United States provided by InfoUSA Inc. (see note #7). The attribute information provided by InfoUSA Inc for each police station and fire station facility includes: name, address, city, zip, state, and geographical coordinates.

The schools data set was developed from the 2000 Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Data and the Private School Universe Survey Data maintained by the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education (see note #8).  A proprietary geocoding application was used to assign geographical coordinates to each school based on its address.  South Carolina schools data from 2004 was provided by the South Carolina Emergency Division (SCEMD) (see note #9).

The care facilities dataset was developed from American Hospital Association (AHA) data from 2000 (see note #10).  AHA provided information on hospitals for the entire United States.  The attribute information provided by AHA for each medical care facility includes: the number of beds, name, address, city, zip, state, and geographical coordinates.  South Carolina hospital data from 2004 was provided by the South Carolina Emergency Division.

The emergency operations centers (EOC) database is a combination of data provided by InfoUSA Inc. and geocoded data provided by FEMA.  The InfoUSA Inc data is based on the SIC for the entire United States.  The attribute information provided by InfoUSA Inc for each emergency operations centers facility includes: name, address, city, zip, state, function, and geographical coordinates.  The data from FEMA includes: contact, name, address, city, zip, state, and telephone number.

Notes:

7. The contact information for the InfoUSA, Inc is: InfoUSA, Inc.5711 S. 86th Circle, P.O. Box 27347, Omaha, NE 68127-0347, (402) 930 3500. 
8. The contact information for the National Center for Education Statistics: 1990 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA, Phone: (202) 502-7300. 
9. For metadata information on the South Carolina Data, contact South Carolina Emergency Division (SCEMD), 1100 Fish Hatchery Rd, West Columbia, SC 29172, Phone: 803-737-8500.
10. The contact information for the American Hospital Association is: One North Franklin: 27th Floor, Chicago Illinois 60606 , (800) 242-2626.

Back To Top

High Potential Loss Facilities

High potential loss facilities include dams and nuclear power plants.   The dams dataset is based on the 1999 version of the National Inventory of Dams database, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) (see note #11). The nuclear facilities dataset was developed from 2000 data compiled by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)   on nuclear reactors.  Military facilities are not available in the current HAZUS default inventory.

Note:

11. The contact information for USACE is: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria , VA 22315-3864.  Tel.: (703)-428-6766. 

Back To Top

Transportation Systems

Transportation systems in HAZUS include highways, railways, light rail, bus, ports, ferries and airports.  The inventory data required for these include the geographical location, and classification of system components.

Highway transportation systems consist of roadways, bridges, and tunnels.  The highway bridges and tunnels database was developed from the 2001 version of the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database provided by the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Bridge Technology  (see note #12).  Major highway segments were developed with data from the 2000 version of TIGER/Line files, produced by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Railway transportation systems consist of tracks, bridges and tunnels, and stations, fuel, dispatch and maintenance facilities.  The railway track segments were developed with data from the National Rail Network database obtained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (U.S. Department of Transportation) (see note #13). Railway system bridges and tunnels were extracted from the 2001 version of the National Bridge Inventory (NBI).  The railway facilities database was developed with 1998 data from the Amtrak Stations database and the Intermodal Terminal Facilities, obtained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (U.S. Department of Transportation).  The Amtrak Stations database is a geographic data set containing Amtrak intercity railroad passenger terminals in the United States.  The Intermodal Terminal Facilities data set contains geographic data for trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) and container-on-flatcar (COFC) highway rail transfer facilities in the United States.

Light railway transportation systems consist of tracks, bridges and tunnels, and stations, fuel, dispatch and maintenance facilities.  The light railway database was developed with 2000 data from the Fixed-Guideway Transit and Ferry Network database, obtained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (U.S. Department of Transportation).

Bus transportation systems consist of urban stations fuel facilities, dispatch and maintenance facilities. The bus facilities data set was developed from geocoded data from 2001 provided by InfoUSA Inc. based on the SIC for the entire United States.  Attribute information for each bus station facility includes: name, address, city, zip, state, and geographical coordinates.

Port and harbor transportation systems consist of waterfront structures, cranes/cargo handling equipment, warehouses and fuel facilities. The port facilities data set was developed from the 2000 dataset of Port and Waterway Facilities obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/CEIWR, Navigation Data Center, Ports and Waterways Division  (see note #14). 

Ferry transportation systems consist of waterfront structures, passenger terminals,
warehouses, fuel facilities, and dispatch and maintenance facilities.  The ferry facilities dataset was developed from the Port and Waterway Facilities database obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/CEIWR, Navigation Data Center, Ports and Waterways Division. 

Airport transportation systems consist of runways, control towers, terminal buildings, parking structures, fuel facilities, and maintenance and hanger facilities.  Airport runways and facilities datasets were developed from 1999 data obtained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (U.S. Department of Transportation), Federal Aviation Administration.  Heliports are not included.

Notes:

12. The contact information for NBI is The Federal Highway Administration, 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. 
13. The contact information for the BTC is : Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 400 7th Street, SW o Room 3103, Washington, DC 20590 (L'Enfant Plaza Metrorail Station (7th and D Streets exit), 800-853-1351.
14. The contact information for the USACE is : Department of the Army Corps of Engineers, CEIWR-NDC-N, 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22315-3868. 

Back To Top

Lifeline Utility Systems

Utility systems include potable water, wastewater, oil, natural gas, electric power, and communication systems. The inventory data required for these include the geographical location and classification of system components.

Potable water systems consist of pipelines, water treatment plants, control vaults, control stations, wells, storage tanks, and pumping stations.  Wastewater systems consist of pipelines, wastewater treatment plants, control vaults, control stations, and lift stations. Oil systems consist of pipelines, refineries, control vaults, control stations, and tank farms.  Natural gas systems consist of pipelines, control vaults, control stations, and compressor stations.  Electric power systems consists of generating plants, substations, distribution circuits, and transmission towers.

Each of these datasets was developed from 2001 data obtained through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Envirofacts Data Warehouse Location Reference Tables (LRT) tool based on SIC.  The attribute information provided by LRT includes: name, address, city, zip, state, and geographical coordinates.  South Carolina potable water, waste water, oil and natural gas pipelines data c2001 were provided by the South Carolina Emergency Division (SCEMD).

The distribution pipelines database for potable water, waste water and natural gas, which is aggregated at the census tract level, was developed based on the assumption that the number of distribution lines is correlated to the number of local streets.  This approximation is considered fairly accurate in urban areas, but less so in rural areas because of the use of onsite components such as water wells, septic tanks and propane gas tanks.

Communication systems consist of communications facilities, communications lines, control vaults, switching stations, Radio/TV station, weather station, or other facilities.   The communication facilities dataset was developed from the 2001 Broadcast Auxiliary Microwave file obtained from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC).

Back To Top

Hazardous Materials and Agricultural Products

The hazardous materials (Hazmat) facilities dataset is based on the 1999 version of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxic Release Inventory database  (see note #15).

The agriculture products inventory for the Flood Model is based on two National datasets for general distribution of crops by type, average yield, unit price, and harvest price: the National Resources Inventory (NRI) (see note #16) and the National Agriculture Statistical Service (NASS) (note: The data is from 2000).

Notes:

15. The contact information for EPA is: Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20460.  Tel.: (202) 260-2090. 
16. The database represents an average of the 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997 data.

Back To Top

Vehicle Data

Parking generation rates are used to associate the number of parked vehicles to square footages of different types of occupancy groups during a flood event. Vehicle distributions are estimated for daytime and nighttime, with daytime assumed to be normal business hours.  Occupancy-related data is based on the American Planning Association's "Off-Street Parking Requirements: A National Review of Standards (PAS 432) by David Bergman (1991) and the National Personal Travel Survey (NPTS) - 1995, and related projects of private organizations.  Vehicle class estimates are compiled from the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) (see note #17), the U.S. Department of Transportation's Truck Size and Weight Study (TSWS) - 2000, and the 1995 National Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS). The distribution of vehicle age and percentage of trucks versus cars were taken from NADA, with further distribution among trucks by size from TSWS.  Dollar valuation of vehicles is based on the 2001 NADA data and the 2001 Ward's Automotive Yearbook.

Note:

17.  NADA Data is a comprehensive statistical analysis of the franchised new-vehicle dealership industry conducted by the National Automobile Dealers Association. It is published annually in the August issue of NADA's Automotive Executive magazine. The one used for HAZUS was published in 2001.

Back To Top

Direct Economic and Social Loss

The datasets for calculating direct economic loss in HAZUS include building, content and inventory valuation by occupancy and repair times, operational valuations (business, personal and rental income and disruption costs) and lifeline valuations at the census block level for the fifty states and the District of Columbia.  The building/content inventory valuation dataset was developed by applying RS Means (see note #18) replacement values for typical building floor areas and construction for each specific occupancy.  The (Means) County Location Factor data set derived from the 2006 RS Means Square Foot Costs was used to modify the building valuations for each occupancy for major metropolitan areas in addition to a national data set of county specific modifiers from the Means zip-code based data generated by Applied Research Associates.  The business loss dataset is based on Dun & Bradstreet (2006), Means Cost Data (regional cost modifiers), income and floor area factors from DOE data and the latest addition of the U.S. County Business Patterns database (e.g., income, employment and output data).   ATC13 and ATC25 were used for lifeline valuations and R.S. Means for location modifiers for the replacement cost for facilities and the repair costs.  Datasets for social loss (displaced households and casualties) in HAZUS are derived from the 2000 Census.

Note:

18. The contact information for RS Mean's is:  RSMeans Company, Inc. Construction Publishers & Consultants, Construction Plaza, 63 Smiths Lane, Kingston, MA 02364-080. 

Back To Top

Indirect Economic Data and Demographic Data

HAZUS indirect economic data refers to the post-disaster change in the demand and supply of products, change in employment and change in tax revenues.  Data are based on IMPLAN data for the U.S. and the Territories that were acquired from the Minnesota IMPLAN Group, Inc. and compiled in 1997.

The demographics table in HAZUS provides housing and population statistics at the census block level including distributions of income, population, demographics, occupancies, and housing units based on the 2000 U.S. Census.  Some employment data is from Dun & Bradstreet.

Back To Top

Last Modified: Tuesday, 02-Sep-2008 09:14:53 EDT