An aggressive public education program would be necessary to promote awareness of:
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loss estimation as a mitigation tool
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the potential for damage and loss in the metropolitan New York area and
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the ready avenue that the HAZUS program offers as a first step to quantifying urban losses to earthquakes.
Past Workshops and Meetings
New York Academy of Sciences, November 10, 1998: Numerous metropolitan New York-New Jersey stakeholders were identified throughout the public and private sectors, with responsibilities for structures and systems maintenance and management, disaster contingency planning, and emergency response and recovery. An initial information seminar was hosted at the New York Academy of Sciences on November 10, 1998, to share information about the NYCEM project and its potential benefits to consortium members. The intention was to create a critical mass of agency/corporation investors who would be willing to contribute data to the models and/or would be willing to use a HAZUS model for their own organization’s mitigation purposes. An agenda for the seminar is included here.
IBM Center, Palisades, New York on January 7-8, 1999: Based on the response to the November seminar, an intensive workshop was held at the IBM Center in Palisades, New York on January 7-8, 1999 for the new consortium invitees. The workshop featured loss estimation and earthquake engineering experts – many from the project’s TAC. The retreat-like setting allowed for participants to gain an in-depth familiarity with the concept of loss estimation, the methodologies which exist for quantifying loss and the potential benefits and difficulties associated with them. A number of actual case study applications of loss estimation modeling were presented to cast the New York City effort in context with studies previously initiated in Salt Lake City and Boston. New York City scenario studies were run on-site to give participants an idea of quantified losses anticipated after a moderate areal event.
HAZUS Training, June 8 – 10, 1999: As part of the Consortium's Education and Outreach mission, external funding sources were identified to offer HAZUS training to members of the consortium. Merrill Lynch offered computer facilities for the training at no cost to the project. The training was held June 8 – 10, 1999.
Year Three Activities
In Year Three, additional education programs will be carried out to expand consortium membership and involvement. Among the activities will be meetings of working groups, which will allow individuals sharing similar concerns in areas such as
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building stock data
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GIS data management
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geotechnical issues
to‘brainstorm' at length. Scheduled presentations at local meetings of ASCE, SEAONY, AIA and APA are also anticipated. A column featuring new developments in the NYCEM project is carried in the quarterly MCEER Bulletin.
Additional support for NYCEM outreach activities are provided via this web site, and also by HAZUSNET-USA listserv, an internet forum for electronic dialogue of any and all matters associated with the use and application of HAZUS.
HAZUSNET-USA Listserv Discussion List
The Multidisciplinary Center For Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), in partnership with the Northwest States Emergency Consortium (NESEC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), have established a listserv to offer a forum for discussion of issues related to the use and application of the NIBS/ FEMA loss estimation software, HAZUS, being utilized for the NYCEM project . To join the list, send email to
As the first line in the body of the mail message, type:
sub HAZUSNET-USA-LIST [your name]
Be sure to leave the subject line blank. The listserv discussion will be regularly archived and periodically moderated for content.
