Applications and Challenges to Using HAZUS-MH for Building Seismic Risk Awareness

Following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) faced three key challenges; to determine the extent of damage on its properties; to return students to schools as quickly as possible; and to maintain a documented link between initial damage reports and subsequent mitigations to ensure proper reimbursement from state and federal disaster funds. Were a similar seismic event to take place today, the District would face the same challenges, but would be able to draw on resources that were not available 15 years ago. Through the wider adoption of standards in seismic risk awareness, coupled with advances in mobile communications and electronic data storage and transfer, an earlier and more complete picture of potential losses can be provided to decision making teams along with more robust tracking of the actual damage suffered. This paper will highlight the promise of these advances by drawing comparison to the response in 1994. It will also examine the challenges faced by a large urban school district of implementing an end-to-end program to improve seismic risk awareness, mitigation and post-earthquake response using the HAZUS-MH model and the suite of technology products that have been produced to compliment it. These challenges are a combination of different types; from the sheer number of buildings under consideration; to the implementation of multiple software products in a non-standard technical infrastructure; to the institutionalization of a training program. All these hurdles must be overcome within a cost-conscious administrative structure that is typically reactive rather than pro-active.