SCEC INSTANeT News
	New High-Speed HAZUS Released

Immediately following an earthquake, individuals involved in earthquake preparedness, planning, and response will now be able to save valuable time when assessing damage and determining appropriate response as the result of work just completed for FEMA under a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). HAZUS (short for "Hazards U.S.), a state-of-the-art computer program developed by NIBS to provide loss estimations following an earthquake, has been upgraded and is now significantly faster and can provide more detailed information in just minutes following a quake. The new edition - HAZUS99 - is available from FEMA and NIBS and is free of charge to all federal, state, and local agencies and other public and private organizations. The program is designed to aid not only response and recovery, but also preparedness and mitigation, through the creation of earthquake scenarios. HAZUS99 is a nationally applicable, standardized method for estimating earthquake losses at the community or regional level. It is available on CD-ROM in three editions: Eastern U.S., Central U.S., and Western U.S. Each CD includes a tutorial and an "Inventory Collection Tool." The program will be available to work with either MapInfo or ArcView GIS software. CD ROMs containing data for earthquake, wind, and flood exposure analysis are being prepared for each state. FEMA is expanding the capabilities of HAZUS by developing loss estimation models for flood and hurricane hazards, and preview versions of these models are being prepared for release in 2002. For more information, contact Philip Schneider, NIBS Multihazard Loss Estimation Program, NIBS, 1090 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005-4905; (202) 289-7800; fax: (202) 289-1092; e-mail: pschneider@nibs.org; WWW: http://www.nibs.org; -or- Claire Drury, FEMA HAZUS Project Manager, FEMA, 500 C Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20472; (202) 646-2884; e-mail: claire.drury@fema.gov.

Phone 213/740-5843 Fax 213/740-0011 e-mail: SCECinfo@usc.edu