Creating a Nationwide Composite Hazard Index Using Empirically Based Threat Assessment Approaches Applied to Open Geospatial Data

Abstract

The US is exposed to myriad natural hazards causing USD billions in damages and thousands of fatalities each year. Significant population and economic growth during the last several decades have resulted in more people residing in hazardous places. However, consistent national-scale hazard threat assessment techniques reflecting the state of hazard knowledge are not readily available for application in risk and vulnerability assessments. Mapping natural hazard threats is the crucial first step in identifying and implementing threat reduction or mitigation strategies. In this study, we demonstrate applied GIS approaches for creating and synthesizing US hazard threat extents using publicly available data for 15 natural hazards. Individually mapping each threat enables empirically supported intervention development and the building of a Composite Hazard Index (CHI). Summarizing the hazard frequencies provides a novel representation of US hazardousness. Implementing cluster analysis to regionalize US counties based on their underlying hazard characteristics offers insight into hazard threats’ spatial (non-political) natures. The results indicate that the southeast, central plains, and coastal regions of the northeast had high hazard occurrence scores, whereas more moderate hazard scores were observed west of the continental divide. Furthermore, while no place is safe from hazard occurrence, identifying each region’s distinct “hazardousness” can support individualized risk assessments and mitigation intervention development.