Great Central Shakeout 2012

On February 7, 2012, at 10:15 a.m.*, thousands of people across eight states will participate in the 2012 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut ... will you be shaking?

MORE INFO...

Resolve to be Ready in 2012

Those who make New Year's resolutions are 11 times more likely to have continued success in achieving a goal than individuals who have not made a resolution, according to the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Use the resources at Ready.gov to keep resolutions by providing the tools and resources needed to take four important steps: be informed about the different types of emergencies that can happen in your area and their appropriate responses, make a family communications plan, build an emergency kit, and get involved in community preparedness. MORE INFO

HAZUS.org suggests that you join with the Ready Campaign in promoting Resolve to be Ready during 2012.

2011 will be the year with the highest catastrophe-related economic losses in history

According to preliminary estimates from the annual Swiss Re’s sigma team, total insured losses for the global insurance industry from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters reached USD 108 billion in 2011. This is more than double the figure of USD 48 billion in 2010. Claims from natural catastrophes alone reached USD 103 billion in 2011, compared to only USD 43 billion last year. MORE INFO

Wyoming State Geological Survey Launches HAZUS Website For Emergency Planners

The Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) has launched an interactive website with results of earthquake damage scenarios that can be used by emergency planners and managers to better prepare for earthquakes in the state.

“Information from this website is critical to the health and safety of several Wyoming communities that live within seismically active zones,” said Wallace Ulrich, director of the WSGS. “We hope that the citizens and local governments will use this information to better prepare for potential disasters.” PRESS RELEASE

Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) HAZUS Internet map server, GO THERE

CSU Hurricane Team Releases Early 2012 Season Forecast

The Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University today released its initial outlook for the 2012 Atlantic basin hurricane season. This is the first time in 29 years in its early December forecast that the team relied on probabilities of key factors influencing the hurricane season rather than issuing a numerical forecast for the number of storms.

“We have suspended issuing quantitative forecasts at this extended-range lead time in December, since they have not proved skillful in real-time over the last 20 years,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of the forecasts. READ MORE

Full 2012 CSU TMP Early Season Forecast (.pdf)

HAZUS 64 Bit ...

We just received the following comment on a previous post concerning the release of a 64 bit version of HAZUS ...

" Hazus is not 64 bit compatible. Fema has promised me via phone and email a 64 bit compatible version of hazus by the end of the year 2011. "

We are hearing from lots of folks chomping at the bit for the 64 Bit version of HAZUS and HAZUS.org has no doubt that it is just about to appear ... however ... past history has shown it is difficult to predict exact dates for HAZUS sw release.

HAZUS.org has asked the folks at FEMA for a status report ...

Update Dec 16, 2011 - Nothing official yet but HAZUS.org would guess that the 64bit version of HAZUS will not be released until later in the first quarter of 2012 ...

U.S. sets record with a dozen billion-dollar weather disasters in one year

2011 has seen the highest number of billion dollar weather disaster events in U.S. weather history. This analysis should not be confused with total losses but rather addresses individual weather events that exceeded a cost of a billion dollars. MORE INFO

To see the current list of the billion dollar events from NOAA, CLICK HERE...