Hazus — The Complete Guide: FEMA’s Loss Estimation for Floods, Hurricanes and Earthquakes
Hazus was developed by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to answer a practical question: what happens to buildings, infrastructure and population in a given area if a flood, storm or earthquake hits it, and how much will it cost. The results feed mitigation plans and comparisons between risk-reduction options.
Hazus
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA's free GIS-based system for estimating potential losses from natural disasters – floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Three hazard types — floods, hurricane winds and earthquakes.
- Earthquake scenarios — ShakeMap scenarios for assessing a specific event.
- Physical damage — estimated damage levels for buildings and infrastructure.
- Economic loss and social impact — repair costs, loss of use and effects on residents.
- Built-in databases — building and infrastructure inventory data for every US state.
Important: what is actually free
Hazus itself is distributed free, but it runs only as an add-in to ArcGIS Pro — a paid commercial product — and requires Windows 11. In other words, without an ArcGIS Pro licence you cannot run it. In addition, the built-in databases cover the US only; use in Israel or any other country means preparing your own inventory and hazard data. The tsunami module has not yet moved to the ArcGIS Pro version.
Related tools
For open-source seismic risk assessment anywhere in the world — OpenQuake Engine. For river hydraulic modelling and flood maps — HEC-RAS. For data preparation and map work in free software — QGIS.
OpenQuake Engine
GEM Foundation
Seismic hazard and risk calculations — PSHA, earthquake scenarios and damage and loss estimates, from the GEM Foundation.
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HEC-RAS
US Army Corps of Engineers
1D/2D hydraulic model for rivers, bridges and culverts, with floodplain mapping. The world standard.
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HEC-HMS
US Army Corps of Engineers
Rainfall-runoff hydrological model — infiltration, unit hydrograph and routing. Pairs with HEC-RAS.
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QGIS
QGIS.org
Open-source GIS for spatial analysis, layer work and map production.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Hazus is a recognised, established tool for natural hazard loss estimation, but it is free only if you already have ArcGIS Pro, and it is geared mainly to the US. Elsewhere, OpenQuake is often a more practical starting point.