Cost-Benefit Model for the Construction of Tornado Shelters
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 130, Issue 6
Abstract
Tornadoes have been identified as one of the leading causes of death and injuries among natural disasters in the United States. Shelters play an important role in tornado mitigation efforts, since tornado-related mortality and injury rates are higher when tornado shelters are not available. This paper describes a methodology to address the viability of construction of tornado shelters in areas which have significant tornado hazards. A cost-benefit model that estimates the relative advantages of three tornado shelter construction strategies was developed and tested. The model accounts for factors such as probability of tornado occurrence, historical death and injury rates, economic incentives, and local construction and maintenance costs. The implications of factors such as useful life period, discount rate, and occupancy on the viability of the shelter were also studied. Relevance of this model to decision makers, as well as future needs for the model, is discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Abbey, R.F., Jr., and Fujita, T.T. ( 1977). “The Dapple mehod for computing tornado hazard probabilities: Refinements and theoretical considerations.” 11th Conf. on Severe Local Storms, Kansas City, Mq., American Meteorological Society.
2.
Alexander, D. ( 1993). Natural disasters, Chapman and Hall, New York.
20.
Balluz L., Schieve, L., Holmes, T., Kiezak, S., and Mallilay, J. ( 2000) “Predictors for people's response to a tornado warning, Arkansas, 1 March 1997.” 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 28–30 September 2000.
3.
Coulbourne, W. L., Tezak., E. S., and McAllister, T. P. (2002). “Design guidelines for community shelters for extreme wind events.” J. Archit. Eng., 8(2), 69–77.
4.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). ( 1997). “Report on costs and benefits of natural hazard mitigation.” FEMA 294, Washington, D. C.
5.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). ( 1998). “Taking shelter from the storm: Building a safe room inside your house.” FEMA 320, Washington, D. C.
6.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). ( 2000). “Design and construction guidance for community shelters.” FEMA 361, Washington, D. C.
7.
Fujita, T.T. ( 1971). “Proposed characterization of tornadoes and hurricanes by area and intensity.” SMRP 91, Department of Geophysical Sciences, the University of Chicago.
8.
Hooke, W. H. (2000). “U. S. participation in international decade for natural disaster reduction.” Nat. Hazards Rev., 1(1), 2–9.
19.
Huang, Z., Rosowsky, D. V., and Sparks, P. R. (2001) “Long-term hurrican risk assessment and expected damage to residential structures.” Reliability Eng. Sys. Safety, 74. 239–249.
9.
International Hurricane Center. ( 2001). “Hurricane loss reduction for residences and mobile homes in Florida.” Final Year 1 Rep., International Hurricane Research Center, Florida International University.
10.
Kerle, N., and Oppenheimer, C. (2002). “Satellite remote sensing as a tool in Lahar disaster management.” Disasters, 26(2), 140–160.
11.
Lillibridge, S.R. ( 1997). Tornadoes: The public health consequences of disasters, E. K. Noji, ed., Oxford University Press, New York, 228–244.
12.
Markee, E. H., Beckerley, J. G., and Sanders, K. E. ( 1974). “Technical basis for interim regional tornado criteria.” WASH-1300 (UC-11), U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Office of Regulation, Washington, D. C.
13.
Mileti, D.S. ( 1999). Disasters by design: A reassessment of natural hazards in the United States, Joseph Henry Press, Washington, D. C.
14.
National Weather Service (2003). Natural hazard statistics, http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml (last update May 19, 2003).
15.
Schmidlin, T. W., and King, P. S. (1995). “Risk factors for death in the 27 March 1994 Georgia and Alabama tornadoes.” Disasters, 19, 170–177.
16.
Schmidlin, T. W., and King, P. S. ( 1997). “Risk factors for death in the 1 March 1997 Arkansas tornadoes.” Quick Response Rep. #98, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.
17.
Simiu, E., and Scanlan, R.H. ( 1996). Wind efects on structures: Fundamentals and applications to design, 3rd Ed., Wiley, New York.
18.
Storm Prediction Center (2003). The online tornado FAQ, http://www.spc.noaa.gov/noaa.gov/faq/tornado (Jan. 5, 2003).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 130 • Issue 6 • December 2004
Pages: 772 - 779
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 ASCE.
History
Published online: Nov 15, 2004
Published in print: Dec 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.