Hazard mitigation design resources
Extreme weather events are increasing in intensity and frequency. The following resources can support hazard risk reduction development, design, and construction choices. These resources include risk analysis data and tools, hazard maps, and building design guidelines for new and existing buildings.
Hazard mitigation plans offer a general overview of risk and are a valuable starting point. They show the probability, frequency, and severity of threats.
- ThinkHazard!: provides a general view of the hazards, for a given location. The tool highlights the likelihood of different natural hazards affecting project areas (very low, low, medium and high), provides guidance on how to reduce the impact of these hazards, and where to find more information. The hazard levels provided are based on published hazard data, provided by a range of private, academic and public organizations.
- New Construction: Hazard Mitigation Strategies: Understand the primary and secondary hazard impacts of key hazard types and apply both code and above-code hazard mitigation strategies to safeguard your clients investment and reduce vulnerability.
- ASCE 7 Hazard tool: provides site-specific data for the determination of multiple types of Hazard Loads for buildings and other structures. Data from this tool is compatible with ASCE 7-10 and ASCE 7-16.
- ATC Hazards by location: provides site-specific hazard information that can be used to determine design loads for buildings and other structures.
- Existing Buildings: Hazard Mitigation Retrofits: Explore best practices for retrofiring and upgrading existing and historic buildings to reduce potential damage from hazard events.
- Mitigation Ideas: A Resource for Reducing Risk to Natural Hazards: A resource for communities to evaluate a range of potential mitigation actions for reducing risk to natural hazards and disasters. Published in 2013.
- Strategies to encourage state and local adoption of disaster-resistant codes and standards to improve resiliency: a communication and advocacy tool for architects on code adoption, implementation and application, both generally and for hazard risk reduction. Published in 2015.
- FEMA P-1000, Safer, Stronger, Smarter: A Guide to Improving School Natural Hazard Safety: This guide provides up-to-date, authoritative information and guidance that schools can use to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing natural hazards. Published in 2017.
- ATC Hazards by Location: provides site-specific hazard information that can be used to assess design loads for structural models of buildings.
- No Code. No Confidence: an online tool to find the current building codes in place within the local area that protect against natural disasters.
- FEMA State Mitigation Planning Key Topics Bulletin: Risk Assessment: provides an overview and series of resources on how to conduct risk assessments in order to communicate vulnerabilities, establish priorities, and inform decision-making.
- Voluntary Resilience Standards: An Assessment of the Emerging Market for Resilience in the Built Environment: a research report that draws upon various resilience standards and the consequent hazards they respond to, the scale of analysis, and performance outcomes in order to provide an overview for practitioners and property owners to support market growth and inform decision making.
- Substantial Damage Estimator (SDE) User Manual and Field Workbook: a tool utilized to assist in assessing and estimating damages to both residential and non-residential structures.
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