Description
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed a free software package and methodology (HAZUS) that is used to simulate the effects of earthquakes and other natural disasters in order to estimate potential regional damages and loss. These estimates may be used by local, state and regional officials to 1) plan and stimulate risk-reduction efforts and 2) to prepare emergency response and recovery action plans.
HAZUS contains models for estimating potential losses from earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. It uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to estimate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters as it graphically illustrates the limits of identified high-risk locations due to earthquake, hurricane, flood, and tsunami. Users can then visualize the spatial relationships between populations and other more permanently fixed geographic assets or resources for the specific hazard being modeled, a crucial function in the pre-disaster planning process.
HAZUS is used for mitigation and recovery, as well as preparedness and response. Government planners, GIS specialists, and emergency managers use Hazus to determine losses and the most beneficial mitigation approaches to take to minimize them. HAZUS may be used in the assessment step in the mitigation planning process, which is the foundation for a community’s long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. Being prepared aids in recovery after a natural disaster. Digital ZIP download. HA-83D
The full set of individual county- and fault-based HAZUS reports are also available as a single ZIP-file download.
The ZIP download includes all individual county-based and known-fault-based simulations of the 2006 simulations series. The simulations are based on our current knowledge of historical earthquakes, their locations, and estimated magnitudes. The approximately 130 individual PDFs are in relevant county-based or known-EQ-based sub-directories:
2006-series simulations
- Citation: Heerschap, Lauren, and Matthew L. Morgan. “HA-65 HAZUS 2006: Statewide Earthquake Event Report.” Earthquake Simulation. Golden, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, 2006.
- A random earthquake report that examines a seismic event occurring on a theoretical fault within the county boundary.
- A set of worst-case scenarios replicating events of maximum intensity based on particular known historical earthquakes. The simulations are based on either the Western US (WUS) or Central and Eastern US (CEUS) attenuation functions (see the USGS Open-File Report 2008-1128 for details).
The PDF files may be navigated using the built-in bookmarks feature that may be seen to the left of an Adobe Acrobat (Reader) window.
Disclaimer:
The estimates of social and economic impacts contained in these reports were produced using HAZUS loss estimation methodology software which is based on 2005 scientific and engineering knowledge. There are uncertainties inherent in any loss estimation technique. Therefore, there may be significant differences between the modeled results contained in this report and the actual social and economic losses following a specific earthquake. These results may be improved by using enhanced inventory, geotechnical, and observed ground motion data. Monetary values are in either 2006 or 2013 dollars, depending on the date of the simulation (which appears on the report cover sheet).
In the general earthquake model, the probabilistic ground motion and earthquake faults are developed from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado. See Summary of Databases for full HAZUS database information.
