The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will host the first National HAZUS User Conference as part of the 2007 Esri International User Conference (Esri UC) in San Diego, California, providing a unique learning opportunity for attendees.
The event will focus on Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard (HAZUS-MH), a nationally applicable standardized methodology and software program built as an extension to ArcGIS that contains models for estimating potential losses from earthquakes, floods, and hurricane winds. The June 19–20 conference will be conveniently located in the Omni Hotel near the San Diego Convention Center, where thousands will gather for the Esri UC.
People can sign up to attend when they register for the Esri UC, the Education User Conference, or the Survey & Engineering GIS Summit. There is no additional cost to attend the HAZUS conference. Learn more and register.
Sponsored by FEMA's Mitigation Division, the conference will focus on effective approaches to using HAZUS for decision making at all levels of government and in the private sector.
With successful HAZUS-MH deployments taking place all over the country, the number of HAZUS users has grown considerably. Esri and FEMA organizers are hosting this year's event to provide a dedicated forum for attendees to learn new skills as well as to share information and collaborate with others.
The conference is being held for both new and experienced HAZUS-MH users. This includes public safety planners, emergency management specialists, first responders, homeland security and local government officials, city planners, GIS specialists, and others.
There will be an emphasis on FEMA's comprehensive approach to risk management. Educational sessions will provide practical as well as innovative uses of HAZUS-MH for mitigation planning and policy.
HAZUS-MH was developed by FEMA under contract with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). Loss estimates produced by HAZUS-MH are based on current scientific and engineering knowledge of the effects of hurricane winds, floods, and earthquakes. Estimating losses is essential to decision-making at all levels of government, providing a basis for developing mitigation plans and policies, emergency preparedness, and response and recovery planning.
HAZUS-MH uses ArcGIS software to map and display hazard data and the results of damage and economic loss estimates for buildings and infrastructure. It also allows users to estimate the impacts of hurricane winds, floods, and earthquakes on built environment and populations. HAZUS-MH runs quickly to make the software program easy to use in real time to support response and recovery following a natural disaster.
Federal, state, and local government agencies and the private sector can order HAZUS-MH free of charge from FEMA.
