Hazus

FEMA’s Hazus program provides software, data, methods, and guidance for estimating risk from natural hazards. Hazus can estimate building damages, economic losses, displaced households, casualties, debris generation and more resulting from a natural hazard event, and can be used in all phases of emergency management.

Hazus 7.1 is now available for download on the FEMA Map Service Center and represents an update including:

• In-app results export functionality built into the ArcGIS Pro interface, allowing users to export loss results within the Hazus 7.1 application.
• In-place update capabilities, allowing Hazus 7.0 users to install new versions of Hazus without uninstalling the most recent version, saving time and preserving user settings.
• Following National Hurricane Center data import functionality in Hazus 7.0, users can now import custom windspeed data.
• Reduced hurricane analysis run times by targeting memory issues that came up when building large study regions for hurricane analysis.
• Improved loss results for hotels and motels by fixing a defect that caused RES4 hurricane losses to occasionally be overestimated for hotels and motels with flat roofs.

Hazus 7.0 and 7.1 are the first of several updates that will bring users the key features of Hazus with the enhanced capabilities of ArcGIS Pro. To understand what’s new, view the Hazus Side by Side Comparison and the Hazus in ArcGIS Pro Latest Improvements Guide.

Hazus 7.0 and 7.1 currently support modeling for the Hurricane and Flood hazards only. Modeling for hazards such as earthquake and tsunami are not yet available in Hazus 7.0 or 7.1, and FEMA is working to integrate key functionality into future releases. Users can continue to use Hazus 6.1 for earthquake, tsunami, and other modeling needs while we continue our transition to ArcGIS Pro.

The Hazus software is distributed as a GIS-based application with inventory databases for every state and territory in the nation and is built on Esri’s ArcGIS Pro desktop software. Leveraging ArcGIS, Hazus simplifies workflows and improves the efficiency of risk assessment and mapping analysis for users.

The Hazus program partners with other federal agencies, research institutions, and regional planning authorities to ensure Hazus incorporates the latest scientific and technological approaches. Each Hazus model uses inventory information (buildings, infrastructure, and population), hazard extent and intensity data, and damage functions to estimate the impacts of disasters. The program provides baseline datasets for these inputs so that any community can quantify risk, regardless of data availability. However, users are encouraged to modify Hazus model inputs to include more accurate local information.

Download the latest version of Hazus and state databases from the FEMA Map Service Center.

Read the Release Notes to learn more about the latest version of Hazus.

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FEMA’s Hazus program supports data-driven decision making for mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Hazus can be used to evaluate mitigation actions, and states, local, tribal and territorial entities  are encouraged to use Hazus to complete the risk assessment component of their hazard mitigation planning. Emergency managers, planners, and researchers can use Hazus to map the potential impacts of catastrophic events, communicate risk to communities, and is used during real-time disaster response to estimate the impacts of incoming storms.

The Hazus Loss Library is a free online collection of Hazus-generated risk assessments that can support all phases of emergency management. Search the library to find Hazus flood, hurricane, earthquake and tsunami products (Release 6.1 for both) with Hazus results downloadable in spatial, tabular, and report formats.

View the factsheet for more information, or visit the Hazus Loss Library to find risk information available for your community.

Contact us at the Hazus Helpdesk by email anytime for Hazus technical assistance, data needs, or methodology questions.

Sign up to receive updates about the Hazus Program, including our latest projects and links to our quarterly newsletters and webinars, training, and conferences.