| Scenario results include the likely number of buildings damaged, casualties, shelter needs, and the number of police and fire stations damaged, as well as economic losses. |
Coastal resource managers in Hawaii are helping scientists and emergency managers translate data and models showing the likelihood and impacts of an earthquake in Hawaii County into easy-to-understand information for local decision makers and planners. The effort is geared towards helping to improve local planning, building codes, and the county’s ability to respond when a major earthquake does hit.
“Our role,” says Ann Ogata-Deal, planning and policy analyst with the Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program, “is to put the data into a form that gets people to really sit up and listen.”
That “form” is a glossy 29-page color publication called, “Earthquake Hazards and Estimated Losses in the County of Hawaii,” published in February 2005 by the Hawaii State Earthquake Advisory Committee.
The publication outlines the county’s earthquake risk, which is the third highest in the U.S., discusses historical losses, and supplies data from a customized version of Hazards U.S. (HAZUS), a computer program developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Institute of Building Sciences to estimate losses from earthquakes.
The Hawaii-specific HAZUS data are presented through maps, graphs, and charts to show local officials what the impacts would be from various magnitude earthquakes. Scenario results include the likely number of buildings damaged, casualties, shelter needs, and the number of police and fire stations damaged, as well as economic losses. In addition to showing where these losses would likely occur, the publication introduces planning alternatives, such as the concept of seismic design found in the International Building Code.
The Earthquake Advisory Committee is a working group of representatives from the state’s scientific, engineering, and emergency management communities that was organized in 1990 by Hawaii State Civil Defense. The coastal program joined the committee three years ago.
In addition to providing funding for hazard mitigation projects, Ogata-Deal
says the coastal program saw a need for getting the often technical information
the earthquake committee was producing into the hands of local decision makers
in an easy-to-use format.
The coastal program led the production of the earthquake booklet, which included contracting with a design firm and coordinating printing. The committee served as a peer review group for the publication, which was introduced at a training workshop for more than 100 county leaders, building officials, planners, and emergency managers.
Since then, the publication has been distributed to Hawaii County fire and police departments, hospitals, the University of Hawaii at Hilo geography department, and the Hawaii County Council. Requests for the booklet have come from as far away as France.
“Over the years I’ve really seen the committee change from a scientific focus to one that also incorporates planning and decision making,” Ogata-Deal says. “For coastal zone management, it seems that we are now at the point where our expertise can really make a difference.”
To view “Earthquake Hazards and Estimated Losses in the County of Hawaii ,” point your browser to www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/czm/czm_publications/earthquake_hazards-hawaii_county.pdf. To view the Hawaii HAZUS Atlas, go to www.pdc.org/hha/. For more information on the publication, contact Ann Ogata-Deal at (808) 587-2804, or aogata-deal@dbedt.hawaii.gov. For more information on the data or customized Hawaii HAZUS Atlas, contact Gary Chock at (808) 521-4513, or structures@martinchock.com.
