The forthcoming ASTM Property Resilience Assessment Guide provides an overview of a generalized, systematic approach for conducting a Property Resilience Assessment (PRA) consisting of, first, identifying the natural hazards likely to affect a property; next, evaluating the risks posed by those hazards along with the capacity of the property to prepare for, adapt to, withstand and recover from those hazards; and then finally, identifying conceptual resilience measures to enhance property-level performance and recovery. The PRA includes, at minimum, a baseline assessment of safety, damage, functional recovery time, and a limited consideration of community resilience or other material dependencies, such as the ability of utilities to deliver service to a property following a hazard event.

EBA Journal – Summer 2024 Edition

Stage 1 of the PRA, or the hazard assessment, which was part of a panel at the EBA’s 2024 Annual Conference in February and recently the focus of a webinar from EBA’s ESG Committee, has been colloquially called the “WHAT?” stage. That is, what hazards and climate change impacts can (underscore “can”) affect a building or property that is under consideration for purchase, sale, borrowing, insuring, or otherwise investing in. Stage 2, the “Risk and Resilience Assessment”, colloquially called the “SO WHAT?” stage, examines the potential vulnerability of and, as referenced by many Users, the “value-at-risk” to, a building from specific hazards – mainly hazards in the here and now. However, depending on the purpose of the assessment (whether for current hazard assessment or climate risk reporting) and other considerations such as hold time, future climate considerations may also be relevant.

Risk is a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Therefore, it is necessary to understand if a building that is exposed to a hazard is actually vulnerable to that hazard and, if the field-verified vulnerability could lead to damage/loss that is significant to the owner/lender, then, additional desktop modeling may be required. This damage assessment is paired with a site inspection by an engineer or architect who makes observations regarding the age, type and condition of current building components and the presence of existing resilience measures, if any.

EBA Journal – Summer 2024 Edition

So, the question naturally comes up, what methods and models are available to help buyers, sellers, lenders, insurers, and investors, etc., quantify potential damage and value-at-risk in the “SO WHAT?” or Stage 2 of a PRA? Although the PRA does not explicitly endorse or recommend any specific approach, one of the most tried and true models available is FEMA’s Hazus model. FEMA’s Hazus is a nationally standardized risk modeling methodology. It identifies areas with high risk for natural hazards and estimates physical, economic, and social impacts of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and tsunamis. Hazus is used for mitigation, recovery, preparedness, and response – and more recently for property resilience assessments. Note that the Hazus model does not cover all hazards, such as tornadoes, wildfire, and hail. Mitigation planners, GIS specialists, and emergency managers have used Hazus for many years to determine potential losses from disasters and to identify the most effective mitigation actions for minimizing those losses. Hazus supports the risk assessment requirements in the mitigation planning process. Hazus can quantify and map risk information such as:

• Physical damage to residential and commercial buildings, schools, critical facilities, and infrastructure.

• Economic loss, including lost jobs, business interruptions, repair, and reconstruction costs.

• Social impacts, including estimates of displaced households, shelter requirements, and populations exposed to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis.

• Cost-effectiveness of common mitigation strategies, such as elevating structures in a floodplain or retrofitting unreinforced masonry buildings.