Does FEMA require the use of HAZUS-MH for risk assessment?
No. HAZUS-MH is an outstanding tool for multihazard loss estimation and risk assessment, but it is not required for compliance with the risk assessment requirements promulgated in the Interim Final Rule and explained in the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance. Jurisdictions are required to analyze their risks to the greatest extent possible. This means that the best data and techniques available to the community at the time of plan development must be used. While a small and impoverished community’s plan cannot be rejected for failing to include a HAZUS-MH analysis (or even to include hazard maps at all), a plan developed in a major metropolitan area or in a community with robust economic and technical capabilities will be expected to reflect a more sophisticated level of analysis. Although the use of HAZUS-MH for risk assessment is not required, it is strongly encouraged. Not only does the software estimate losses to several different types of hazards, but users can also tap HAZ
