Author: Federal Emergency Management Agency (USA)
Year of publication: 2017 (current edition)
Available languages: English
Type of assessment: Comprehensive impact and risk assessment
Details: Hazus is used for mitigation and recovery, preparedness and response. Government planners, GIS specialists, and emergency managers use Hazus to determine losses and the most beneficial approaches to minimize them
Format of assessment: Web tool
Estimated costs for conducting: None
Estimated duration of assessment: No information
To be carried out by whom: Multiple actors
Details: Government representatives, GIS specialists and emergency managers
Institutional scale of use: Continental
Details: National, Regional, Local/community, Project level
Assesment to be used by which target audience: Multiple actors
Details: State level and local decision makers
Output: Risk map
Region of origin: North America
Developed by which sector: Development cooperation
Applied in practice: Yes
Geographic coverage in analysis: Worldwide
Potential geographic coverage: Worldwide
Details: Not sector specific, losses are estimated on three levels: physical, economic and social
Method used: Scenario mapping
Description of methodology: Modelling approach to estimate losses from earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Hazus uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to estimate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters
Risk framework used: No explicit use of risk framework
Risk components incorporated: Exposure
Hazards and impacts considered in the assessment: Cyclone (including tropical storm, hurricane and typhoon), Earthquake, Flood, Tsunami
Details: Hazus uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to estimate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters
Participatory elements: No
Consideration of interconnectedness and -dependencies of risks: No information
Adressing uncertainty: No information
Scope of assessment: Identification of risks, assessment of impacts
Economic/Non-Economic losses incorporated: Both
Details: Potential loss estimates analyzed in Hazus include: 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
Applicability for entire risk spectrum (from extreme weather events to slow onset processes): No
Recommendations for Adaptation measures included in Climate Risk Assessment: No
Details: It does not make adaptation recommendations itself but it is used as a basis to make informed choices for adaptation methods
Usefulness for political purposes: Very useful tool for risk assessments that perform economic loss scenarios for certain natural hazards and rapid needs assessments during hurricane response and for hazard awareness
Applied by whom: US government generally (but as it is open source it can be applied by anyone)
Open access: Yes