Hazus-MH Training

This page describes training opportunities available to those interested in learning more about the use of Hazus-MH. Courses available online and through FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute are listed and the Hazus Trained Professional and Practitioner program is described.

Hazus training courses provide instruction in the application of the three Hazus modules: Hurricane, Flood, and Earthquake, as well as specialized instruction for application by floodplain and emergency managers. Students are instructed in all steps of the loss estimation process, from data management and inventory verification and improvement, to running a loss analysis as well as useful GIS concepts. Emergency managers, GIS specialists, geologists, state and local planners, consultants and all those involved in risk assessment activities benefit from Hazus training.

Regularly scheduled Hazus training classes are held at FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) located on the National Emergency Training Center campus in Emmitsburg, Maryland, 75 miles north of Washington, DC. See the table below for course information and scheduling.

Note: The Hazus courses at EMI are currently undergoing a modernization effort to be brought up to Hazus-MH 3.0 compatibility. The process for rolling out these newer courses will begin later in 2016 and will continue into 2017. For more information on updates to the Hazus-MH courses at EMI, feel free to contact the Hazus Outreach Team at hazus-outreach@riskmapcds.com. 

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How do I Enroll in Hazus Training Courses?

To enroll, download the Admission Application or contact Paul Ganem at paul.ganem@fema.dhs.gov.

For further information on registration, please visit training.fema.gov/emiweb. For information about regional training opportunities and events, go to the Hazus Regional Training page or contact Eric Berman by e-mail at eric.berman@fema.dhs.gov.

The Classroom Training and Virtual Training flyers are both available in the FEMA Document Library.

2015-2016 Training

All training is held at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland or the Noble Training Center in Anniston, Alabama.

To Apply:

All invitees must complete and submit a FEMA 119-25-1 application to NETC Admissions. Applications can be submitted by mail, fax or email to:

Admissions Office, Room I-216
National Emergency Training Center
16825 South Seton Avenue
Emmitsburg, Maryland 21727-8998
Phone: (301) 447 - 1035
Fax: (301) 447 - 1658
Email: netcadmissions@fema.dhs.gov

More information about applying for EMI courses can be found at www.training.fema.gov/apply.

The Admissions Office will send a welcome package to participants outlining travel procedures, airport pick up time by EMI bus, etc. Anyone staying overnight on the NETC campus is required to purchase a meal ticket for the duration of the training activity. A copy of the Travel Authorization must be presented upon arrival. No exceptions are made to this NETC policy. Lodging is provided for course participants on the NETC campus. Students must use NETC Shuttle Service from the airport unless their TA authorizes a rental car. Notify the NETC Transportation Office at least 1 week prior to the course date to reserve a seat. Call 301-447-1048/1113, Fax 301-447-1248 or email to netc-housing@dhs.gov.

ESRI Virtual Hazus-MH Courses

Virtual training courses make it easy for you to harness the power of Hazus-MH to get a quantified and geospatial view of the potential risks your community faces. Once you know what could happen, your community can make informed decisions to prevent losses and protect its citizens. With online courses to serve varying interests and training needs, the series will help public and private organizations plan for and mitigate natural disasters. Learn more about the virtual training courses and their descriptions. 

Esri now has online courses that will substitute for the E0313: Basic Hazus-MH class requirement that is part of the Hazus Trained Professional track certificate program. Of the courses listed below, the only ones that are not required for the substitute credit for the E0313 course are:

• Integrating User-Supplied Data into the Hazus 2.0 Flood Model
• Hazus-MH for Decision Makers
• Introduction to the Hazus 2.0 Comprehensive Data Management System

The other 12 courses are required for substitute E0313 credit. To receive credit toward the E0313 requirement, copies of the course certificates for all 12 courses (from Esri) need to be sent to Paul Ganem (paul.ganem@fema.dhs.gov). Note that this only provides credit toward the Hazus Trained Professional certificate. No EMI certificate or credit will be issued.

Hazus Trained Professionals and Practitioners

Become a Hazus-MH expert! The Emergency Management Institute has developed a curriculum track of courses leading to a certificate as a Hazus Trained Professional or Hazus Practitioner. Interested participants should be advised that although the course codes are the same, some of the course titles have changed to better reflect course content and level. Get the details on the Hazus Trained Professionals and Practitioners Programs!

Course Descriptions

E0170 Hazus-MH for Hurricane

This course builds on the information provided in the E0313 Basic Hazus course by providing an in-depth exploration of the Hazus Hurricane model. An overview of the hurricane related inventory components is provided. An emphasis is placed on techniques for defining a hurricane hazard, adjusting parameters for identifying economic and social impacts from hurricanes and interpreting and applying model outputs. Best practices for using the hurricane model to support emergency management are identified. Course instruction includes lectures, demonstrations and multiple hands-on individual and group activities.

Prerequisites: Participants in this course must complete the "Basic Hazus-MH" course and have skills equivalent to those taught in the "ArcGIS for Emergency Managers" course. Enroll

E0172 Hazus-MH for Flood 

This course builds on the information provided in the E0313 Basic Hazus course by providing an in-depth exploration of the Hazus Flood model. An overview of the flood related inventory components is provided. An emphasis is placed on techniques for defining a flood hazard, adjusting parameters for identifying economic and social impacts from floods and interpreting and applying model outputs. Best practices for using the flood model to support emergency management are identified. Course instruction includes lectures, demonstrations and multiple hands-on individual and group activities.

Prerequisites: Participants in this course must complete the "Basic Hazus-MH" course and have skills equivalent to those taught in the "ArcGIS for Emergency Managers" course. Enroll

E0174 Hazus-MH for Earthquake 

This course builds on the information provided in the E0313 Basic Hazus course by providing an in-depth exploration of the Hazus Earthquake model. An overview of the earthquake related inventory components is provided. An emphasis is placed on techniques for defining an earthquake hazard, adjusting parameters for identifying economic and social impacts from earthquakes and interpreting and applying model outputs. Best practices for using the earthquake model to support emergency management are identified. Course instruction includes lectures, demonstrations and multiple hands-on individual and group activities.

Prerequisites: Participants in this course must complete the "Basic Hazus-MH" course and have skills equivalent to those taught in the "ArcGIS for Emergency Managers" course. Enroll

E0176 Hazus-MH for Floodplain Managers

This course provides in-depth instruction and hands-on activities that develop the skills needed by floodplain managers and emergency planners to effectively use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools, with emphasis on Hazus-MH, for modeling the impacts on communities from riverine and coastal flooding. Those who complete this course will understand the roles that Floodplain Managers support as well as how geospatial technologies such as Hazus-MH can be used to protect communities beyond the minimum standards that Floodplain Managers are responsible for implementing.

Selection Criteria:

The audience for this course includes state and local floodplain managers, GIS specialists, federal, state and local planners and other personnel responsible for flood mitigation and response activities. Enroll

Prerequisites:

Required:
E0313 Basic Hazus-MH
Recommended:
E0190 ArcGIS for Emergency Managers.
E0172 Hazus-MH for Flood.

E0179 APPLICATION OF HAZUS-MH FOR DISASTER OPERATIONS

This course builds valuable skills for effectively using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools, with emphasis on Hazus-MH, to support disaster operations. Participants learn the roles and responsibilities of the disaster management team as well as how GIS can support the activities that they perform. Particular emphasis is placed on strategies for identifying, acquiring and analyzing appropriate GIS compatible data for disaster operations. Numerous hands-on activities provide examples of effective applications of GIS tools, with a focus on Hazus-MH. These activities address areas such as debris management, sheltering and infrastructure damage assessment. Participants also complete a capstone activity that provides an opportunity to use Hazus-MH to support a realistic disaster scenario that is based on a community of interest to the participants. Enroll

Prerequisites: None

E0190 ArcGIS for Emergency Managers

This course teaches new GIS users how to apply the ArcGIS for Desktop software to support disaster mitigation, response, recovery and risk management. ArcGIS for Desktop allows users to analyze their data and create geographic knowledge to examine relationships, test predictions and ultimately make better decisions. Course participants complete numerous hands-on activities that help them learn to develop informative maps as well as to use tools that answer questions based on where things are located and what is known about them. It also develops a variety of skills that can be used to create, edit, manage and analyze both spatial and tabular data. While this course does not provide hands-on instruction specifically on Hazus-MH, all activities use Hazus-MH inventory and analysis outputs. Enroll

Prerequisites: None

E0296 Application of Hazus-MH for Risk Assessment

This course provides mitigation planners with the skills to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools, with an emphasis on Hazus-MH, to create and update the flood, hurricane and earthquake components of community risk assessments. A combination of individual as well as group activities lead the class through the step-by-step process of conducting a risk assessment including hazard identification, profiling of hazards, developing asset inventories, estimating losses and prioritizing mitigation options. Enroll

Prerequisites: None

E0313 Basic Hazus-MH 

This course offers a hands-on introduction to Hazus-MH, FEMA's GIS-based tool for analyzing the social and economic impacts from natural hazards including hurricanes, earthquakes and floods (riverine and coastal). Impact assessments for each hazard include shelter needs, short and long term economic losses and debris estimations. Hazus-MH can also assess impacts on transportation and utilities, agricultural losses and vehicle losses for selected hazards. Topics addressed in this course include overviews of building and population inventory components, options for describing the magnitude and extent of modeled hazards, loss estimation methodologies and options for creating maps, tables and reports that describe hazard impacts. Particular emphasis is given to exploring and interpreting the outputs that Hazus-MH can generate as well as discussing how that information can be applied to support emergency management needs and goals. All activities are based on Hazus-MH provided inputs. After completing this course participants can optionally take additional Hazus-MH courses to learn to refine loss estimations by adjusting model parameters or by integrating their own inventory and hazard data.

Prerequisites: Participants in this course should have skills equivalent to those taught in the "ArcGIS for Emergency Managers" course. Enroll

E0317 COMPREHENSIVE DATA MANAGEMENT FOR HAZUS-MH

This course provides an in-depth exploration of the Hazus-MH inventory which describes the buildings, infrastructure and populations that are at risk from hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. It includes an overview of the methodologies that were used to develop and compile the Hazus-MH-provided inventory. However, the focus of the course is on developing the technical skills for updating and maintaining the inventory with user provided data. Participants will work extensively with a variety of data management tools including ArcGIS. It is expected that they will have prior experience with ArcGIS prior to attending the course. Those without this experience will be challenged to successfully engage in course activities.

Prerequisites: Participants in this course should have skills equivalent to those taught in the "ArcGIS for Emergency Managers" course. Enroll