USGS — FEMA Collaboration on Post-Earthquake Loss Estimates and Assessments: A Case Study of the November 30, 2018 M7.0 Anchorage, Alaska Earthquake

Date: 4/26/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Grand Ballroom

Hazus is a GIS-based loss estimation tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in collaboration with National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to quantify impacts due to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and tsunamis. The Hazus Earthquake model methodology was developed in coordination with experts in engineering and seismology envisioning the future needs for development of mitigation plans and policies, emergency preparedness and response, and recovery planning. Credible and concise impact estimates can be cumbersome and time consuming to generate from the Hazus model, so it has been used primarily for long-term earthquake risk assessment projects. However, Hazus was successfully deployed in the aftermath of the M7.0 Anchorage, Alaska earthquake in November 2018 to generate damage estimates and circulate them among response authorities less than 12 hours after the event. These rapid Hazus loss assessments contributed to an expedited Presidential Disaster Declaration for this earthquake and helped support the Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA). The calculation and communication of such rapid loss results were made possible by recent improvements in coordination between the Hazus Program, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center (USGS NEIC), and the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC). USGS ShakeMap data are rapidly integrated into Hazus model runs, and data for a one-page summary of Hazus Earthquake model results can be generated within minutes now instead of hours. The soon-to-be released 2PAGER summary product was developed in collaboration with USGS NEIC program staff to complement their automated PAGER report. These upgrades have drastically reduced the time required to generate and distribute succinct financial and human earthquake impact estimates.

Presenting Author: Doug Bausch

Authors