HAZUS: King/Pierce County, Washington Port-to-Port Transportation Corridor Earthquake Vulnerability Study

In 2001, King and Pierce Counties in Washington State used HAZUS as part of a regional "Port-to-Port" Transportation Corridor Vulnerability Mitigation Project to learn more about the earthquake vulnerability of the vital corridor between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. This initiative was the first in the nation to proactively estimate post-earthquake survivability of a critical transportation corridor. The study area included interstate highways and key connecting routes between the two ports. The ports are located in the Puget Sound Region, which is vulnerable to earthquake sources associated with the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Using HAZUS, analysts generated damage estimates based on six earthquake scenarios to identify areas of weakness within the system.

HAZUS also has numerous applications for state and regional emergency preparedness, response planning and response operations. Shortly after the Nisqually earthquake in 2001, the Washington State Office of Emergency Management used HAZUS damage assessments to brief the Governor on disaster impacts and to facilitate the disaster declaration process. At the same time, the HAZUS-modeled earthquake intensity estimates alerted the State Department of Transportation to the location of bridges requiring damage inspections.

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Last Modified: Friday, 12-Oct-2007 14:02:25 EDT

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