HAZUS-MH Earthquake Model
The HAZUS-MH earthquake model estimates damage and loss to buildings, lifelines and essential facilities from scenario and probabilistic earthquakes, including:
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Ground shaking and ground failure
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Estimates of casualties
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Displaced households and shelter requirements
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Damage and loss of use of essential facilities
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Estimated cost of repairing damaged buildings
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Quantity of debris
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Damage to buildings
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Direct costs associated with loss of function (e.g., loss of business revenue)
Earthquake Model Performance
- HAZUS-MH is a regional loss estimation tool. Results are most accurate when aggregated on a county or regional scale.
- Modeled results depend on accurate inventories. The more complete the inventories, the more accurate the results.
- Because of their complexity, it is more difficult to estimate losses to lifelines (utility and transportation) than buildings.
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Use of Earthquake Loss Estimates
HAZUS-MH displays the analysis both through GIS maps and tables. This forecasting capability enables users to carry out a wide range of analyses.
- Emergency managers can use HAZUS-MH to develop scenarios to drive exercises and support emergency operations plans.
- State Hazard Mitigation Officials can use information on costs and benefits of specific mitigation measures, and to use analysis for risk assessments for State and local hazard mitigation plans.
- Shelter managers can use estimates of displaced households and shelter requirements to scale mass care mission requirements.
- Utility company representatives can use information on the locations and duration of potential utility outages in setting restoration priorities and committing necessary personnel and other resources.
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New Features in HAZUS-MH MR3
- SQL Server, SQL Express 2005, that will allow for larger study regions
- Commercial data have been updated to Dun & Bradstreet 2006
- Building valuations have been updated to R.S. Means 2006
- Building counts based on census housing unit counts will be available for RES1 (single-family dwellings) and RES2 (manufactured housing) instead of calculated building counts
- Population distribution parameters in the casualty module will be adjustable
- Partial ignitions have been eliminated in the fire-following module
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HAZUS-MH Earthquake Model Applications
Since the HAZUS-MH earthquake model was first used in 1995, there has been a wide range of applications by Federal, state, local and private sectors users.
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HAZUS-MH MR3 Patch 1 Adjustments and Improvements
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Landslide probabilities and peak ground deformations are now generated for site-specific facilities.
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The number of households without potable water and electricity reported in the Summary Reports will no longer exceed the total number of households in the study region.
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The method used to calculate the number of displaced persons in the HAZUS Shelter Module and information in the Technical Manual are now coordinated. Numbers of households now are used instead of incorrect population numbers in Shelter Module calculations.
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The map selection window in the Region Selection Wizard is now consistently visible.
Additionally, HAZUS can be installed on ArcEditor.
Download HAZUS-MH MR3 Patch 1
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Download Plug-in
Some of the links on this page require a plug-in to view them. Links to the plug-ins are available below.
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
Last Modified: Wednesday, 27-Feb-2008 21:02:59 EST