While Canada is exposed to a variety of natural hazards, most risk and emergency managers lack the necessary tools and guidance to adequately undertake rigorous risk assessments. Recently, Natural Resources Canada - NRCan has adopted Hazus, a standardized best practice methodology and software for estimating potential losses from natural hazards (earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes) developed by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA. Integrated in GIS environment, Hazus includes large databases of hazard and inventory (exposure at risk). Damage and loss are predicted applying default or user provided damage curves which combine respective structural characteristics with the intensity of the natural hazard. An agreement has been signed with FEMA to adapt and co-develop Hazus for use in the Canadian context. At the same time, collaboration has been initiated within the federal government between the departments of Natural Resources, Environment, Defence and Public Safety to promote widespread usage of Hazus among the full range of Canadian decision makers. This technical note reports some of the typical features of the recently adapted Canadian version of the Hazus Earthquake model and resumes ongoing activities in implementing this model in Canada.
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