HAZUS-MH

HAZUS-MH Model (HAZUS Multi-Hazard Model)

Criterion	Explanation
General Description	Developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the model is a risk assessment software package built on GIS technology. HAZUS- MH can model multiple types of hazards including: flooding, hurricanes, coastal surges, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Estimates physical damage, economic losses, and social impacts. The model estimates the risk in three steps: 1) calculates the exposure for a selected area, 2) characterizes the level or intensity of the hazard affecting the exposed area, 3) uses the exposed area and the hazard to calculate the potential losses in terms of economic losses, structural damage, etc.
Model Domain	https://msc.fema.gov/portal/resources/hazus
Developer	FEMA
Hardware computing requirements	Release 4.2 requires users to have ArcGIS 10.5.1 licenses. ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension is required for the Flood Model. 2.2 GHZ dual core or higher, 4 GB or higher of memory/RAM 10 GB disk space for State level data, 70 GB for US level data Microsoft 10, 8.1 and 7 (64-bit)
Code language	Python, ArcGIS tool extension.
Original application	First edition released by FEMA in 1997.
Public/proprietary and cost	Free and publicly Available
Physically or empirically based	Empirical
Mathematical methods used	Benefit Cost Analysis
Input data requirements	Data built-into the downloaded model scripts. National Land Cover Data HURDAT (probabilistic storm set) USGS National Elevation Data Set US Census 2010 Data Compilation of GIS Data Layers for Flash Flood Forecasting National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center data (probabilistic ground motion data) US Geological Survey
Outputs	Physical damage to residential and commercial buildings, schools, critical facilities, and infrastructure; Economic loss, including lost jobs, business interruptions, repair, and reconstruction costs; Social impacts, including estimates of shelter requirements, displaced households, and population exposed to scenario floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes, and tsunamis; Results are reported as the average annualized loss and probabilistic results. Geographic datasets used in conjunction with the HAZUS application need to be downloaded separately as state specific datasets.
Pre-processing and post-processing tools	ArcMap 10.5.1
Representation of uncertainty	None specified
Prevalence	Used for mitigation and recovery, as well as preparedness and response. Government planners, GIS specialists, and emergency managers use HAZUS-MH across the nation to determine losses and the most beneficial mitigation approaches to take to minimize them. Often used in the assessment step in the mitigation planning process.
Ease of use for public entities	Easy to use if user is knowledgeable with ArcGIS
Ease of obtaining information and availability of technical support	Technical Guide available through FEMA. Training opportunities and conferences available for users. HAZUS User Group provides additional support and information. Technical support contacts available on website.
Source code availability	N/A
Status of model development	Mature, HAZUS 4.2 released May 2018. Development continuing.
Challenges for integration	HAZUS-MH should be considered a work in progress; as such, the absolute value estimates should be interpreted with care. Spatial outputs are at the state level, but can be post estimated to lower geographies (county, city) by the user.