Sugar House Earthquake Mitigation Return-On-Investment

Federal Emergency Management Agency Mitigation Directorate

HAZUS-MH is a loss estimation methodology developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that provides a rigorous scientific model to calculate losses due to natural hazards. The Advanced Engineering Building Module (AEBM) accounts for a building’s structural components and reaction to strong ground motion. The AEBM was used to perform a level 3 analysis of the Sugar House parcels.

Sugar House is a historic district at the southeast corner of Salt Lake City near a major earthquake fault with mostly single-family residences constructed of unreinforced masonry. The loss estimation results are based on a magnitude 7.0 event on the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch fault. Hazard contour maps from the Utah Geological Survey provided data about soil type, water depth, liquefaction and landslide susceptibility, peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and spectral acceleration at both 0.3 and 1.0 seconds.

AEBM output gave estimates for casualties, building damage, and economic losses (both structural and nonstructural). These data points were combined with the parcel geometry in ArcGIS. The map shows the return on investment (ROI) as the difference in pre- and post-mitigation losses expressed as a percentage of single-family residence value (building plus contents value).

This information helps legislators discover how research at the university, communicated with the assistance of HAZUS-MH and GIS, can benefit the community and state and may lead them to implement legislation to promote earthquake mitigation. It also informs the public of the magnitude of losses expected in a major earthquake along the Wasatch fault and the benefits of mitigation.

Courtesy of FEMA Mitigation Directorate.

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