HAZUS Brochures
HAZUS-MH: A Crystal Ball for Disaster Mitigation 
How many homes would be lost if this hurricane makes landfall as a Category 3? What are the costs to repair infrastructure after a Magnitude 7 Earthquake? If we spent $2 million to buy out these flood-prone homes, what is the cost-benefit? This overview explains how HAZUS-MH combines science, engineering and mathematical modeling with GIS technology to estimate losses of life and property—and shows those losses on a map. Create customized maps and graphics to show buildings, roads, rivers, coastlines, and infrastructure damages. By visualizing your hazard risks you can make a compelling case to decision makers about the need for mitigation.This handout outlines HAZUS-MH capabilities and highlights all the features included with the HAZUS-MH software for FREE. Use this handout to rally support for hazard mitigation. (05/2008)
Getting the Most from HAZUS-MH
HAZUS-MH Training and Education Handout. HAZUS-MH’s Education Program guides you through the process of harnessing the power of HAZUS-MH to produce a quantified and geospatial view of the potential risks facing your community. This handout highlights and explains various options for expanding your knowledge of HAZUS-MH. Details are given on how you can become a HAZUS expert with the new HAZUS Trained Professional or HAZUS Practitioner track curriculum from the Emergency Management Institute. Professionals and Practitioners will receive a certificate, lapel pin, and a listing on FEMA’s website upon completion of their respective curriculum track. (06/2008)
HAZUS User Groups (HUGs)
Since 1997, HAZUS User Groups (HUGs) have been formed throughout the nation. The HUGs are led by volunteers. HUGs provide a mechanism for creating partnerships between public and private sector organizations and industry. Through HUGs mutually beneficial alliances are formed, and goals and projects are identified. This handout highlights the current HUGs organized by FEMA regions. Links to the User Group web sites are provided. (06/2008)
HAZUS-MH: ESRI Virtual Courses 
Need HAZUS-MH Training Now? New ESRI Virtual Courses Let You Master HAZUS-MH on Your Timeline. If you are a state/community planner or GIS user and haven’t tried HAZUS-MH yet, you should. If you’ve tried an older version of HAZUS-MH and were frustrated with technical or accuracy issues, you owe it to your community to give HAZUS-MH MR3 a second look. After 17 years of tuning by the best scientific minds led by the National Institute of Building Sciences, HAZUS-MH is the among the most powerful disaster loss estimation methodology available in the world. It is multi-hazard (earthquake-flood-wind)…and HAZUS-MH is FREE!
The handout provides an overview of the courses and their objectives as well as the ideal candidates for them and how they will benefit from the training. Links to the courses are provided. (12/2007)
HAZUS-MH:“Out of the Box” Emergency Management Applications
Need to show a county manager damage estimates for a flooding event? Want to know the economic impact of a hurricane or earthquake? How will you collaborate with multiple agencies on a mitigation plan? Level 1 HAZUS-MH Scenarios Provide Useful Analyses. A unique feature of HAZUS-MH is the inventory that comes with the software, which consists of hazard data, boundary map data and thirty national datasets of building stock, lifelines and the population. A Level 1 analysis is most useful for regional or statewide loss estimates in support of risk assessments, mitigation and response planning. Use this handout to show how HAZUS-MH can help satisfy many GIS and data-use needs. (07/2008)
HAZUS-MH: Preparedness and Response Planning 
Which essential facilities in your region may be impacted by an earthquake? Will the local hospitals be functional three days after a hurricane? What routes should emergency vehicles travel to avoid flood waters? HAZUS-MH has the answers! HAZUS-MH combines science, engineering and mathematical modeling with GIS technology to estimate losses of life and property. HAZUS-MH estimates impacts to the physical, social and economic vitality of a community from earthquakes, hurricane winds and floods. HAZUS-MH is the tool that state and local governments use in all phases of emergency management planning. HAZUS-MH is used to create customized maps showing hazard risks to decision makers, community leaders and project managers. HAZUS-MH is a modeling tool that provides data to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities by assessing risk and forecasting losses. HAZUS-MH regional loss estimates have been validated and proven to be accurate. Use this handout to help generate interest in preparedness and response efforts. (07/2008)
HAZUS-MH: FEMA’s Gold Standard for Mitigation and Recovery Planning
What is the cost-benefit ratio for each mitigation strategy identified in your mitigation plan? Which schools in your city would be safe from flood waters and available as shelters post disaster? How much debris will a magnitude 6.0 earthquake generate? HAZUS-MH has the answers! HAZUS-MH combines science, engineering and mathematical modeling with GIS technology to estimate losses of life and property. HAZUS-MH estimates impacts to the physical, social and economic vitality of a community from earthquakes, hurricane winds and floods. HAZUS-MH is the tool that state and local governments use in all phases of emergency management planning. HAZUS-MH is used to create customized maps showing hazard risks to decision makers, community leaders and project managers. HAZUS-MH is the application standard for mitigation and recovery planning. HAZUS-MH risk assessments are proven to be accurate. Use this handout as part of your mitigation planning efforts. (07/2008)
HAZUS-MH: Information You Need for a Map-Based Disaster Exercise 
How can emergency managers map the area of impact from storms, earthquakes or floods? How can emergency managers determine the likelihood of damage to hospitals, police, fire and emergency operations centers from ground shaking and hurricane force winds? How can emergency managers identify and quantify the population most at risk from damaging hurricanes, earthquakes and floods? HAZUS-MH has the answers! A disaster exercise provides emergency managers with an objective assessment of their capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from a disaster.
A key to a successful exercise is the ability to quantify and map the potential consequences from disasters, including scope of damages, exposed population, and loss of functionality to essential facilities. As a regional loss estimation tool, HAZUS-MH is uniquely suited for disaster exercise scenario development. For this reason, HAZUS-MH has been widely used since the early 1990s for functional planning, scenario development and exercise support. (07/2008)
Using HAZUS-MH to Promote Seismic Safety
HAZUS-MH has become a valuable tool for risk and emergency managers at all levels of government and the private sector. The earthquake model has been used to carry out national studies of annualized earthquake loss, to develop scenarios for catastrophic planning, to support evaluations of seismic safety of hospitals and other essential facilities, and to support risk assessments and mitigation planning in seismically vulnerable regions of the United States. This handout highlights several projects, studies, and map templates that can be used to support this effort. (04/2008)
HAZUS-MH Inventory: Potential Applications
In order to assess and mitigate the impacts of a natural hazard such as an earthquake, flood or hurricane, it is necessary to have an understanding of the potential size of an event (hazard identification) and the characteristics of the population and environment that will be impacted (inventory collection). The HAZUS-MH inventory has several potential applications for planners, emergency responders and decision makers. This handout highlights several potential applications. (08/2007)
Use of HAZUS-MH to Support Individual Assistance Program
Since the late 1990’s, HAZUS has been used to support analysis of shelter requirements, displaced households, and residential losses from earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. This analysis has important potential applications for FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program. Potential applications include: Analysis of exposure of population to hazard impacts (hurricane winds, storm surge, ground shaking); Estimates of the number of Individual Assistance Preliminary Damage Assessment Teams required for a disaster; Estimates of expected residential damage; Estimates of short-term shelter requirements; and Estimates of the number of displaced households. This handout explains preliminary damage assessment states and provides example of HAZUS maps that were generated to support this effort. (01/2007)
Use of HAZUS-MH to Support Long-Term Community Recovery and Mitigation 
Under the National Response Plan (NRP), Emergency Support Function #14 (ESF # 14) provides a coordination mechanism for the Federal government to assess the consequences of disasters and to coordinate the long-term recovery. ESF #14 is typically activated for large scale disasters that require Federal assistance to address significant long-term impacts on the affected area (including impacts on housing, business and employment, and community infrastructure). ESF #14 addresses three dimensions of recovery: Social and economic community impact assessment; Long-term community recovery assistance to States, local governments, and the private sector; and HAZUS-MH has three core capabilities that can contribute to the implementation of ESF #14. (01/2007)
Introduction to HAZUS-MH
An important part of comprehensive community planning is understanding risks that may affect the physical, social, and economic components of a community. Communities who understand their vulnerability to natural hazards can make development decisions in light of those hazards and the risks associated with them. FEMA introduces its latest risk assessment and loss estimation software package, HAZUS-MH (Multi-Hazard - earthquake, hurricane wind, and flood), that can help answer complex questions about the consequences of a hazard event. (05/2006)
Last Modified: Wednesday, 06-Aug-2008 12:22:45 EDT