Dr. Dan Cox - Coastal Resilience Center

Oregon State University

Project Name:

Experimental and Numerical Study to Improve Damage and Loss Estimation Due to Overland Wave and Surge Hazards on Near-Coast Structures: Integration and Validation of Residential Wave/Surge Fragilities for Hazus-MH and Hindcast Study for Damage and Loss Uncertainty

Other Research Participants/Partners:

John van de Lindt, Colorado State University

Project Description:

The hurricane wave/surge damage functions developed in this project will be integrated into FEMA’s Hazus-MH model in direct collaboration with the end-user (FEMA Hazus team and their consultants). Researchers will use existing FEMA damage data and existing hazard data to validate the new approach using two sections of U.S. shoreline, namely the Texas shoreline impacted by Hurricane Ike and the New Jersey shoreline impacted by Superstorm Sandy. FEMA will use their data to validate the functions and release them from their Github account for use by Hazus users. Researchers will determine the accuracy of the improvements to Hazus-MH for future FEMA loss avoidance studies for coastal communities.

Project Abstract

Project Fact Sheet

Research Interests:

Dr. Cox’s research focuses on community resilience to coastal hazards, including tsunami and hurricane surge and waves inundation in the built and natural environments. He conducts research on tsunami and wave impacts on near-coast structures, tsunami evacuation and life safety, sediment transport and erosion, and nature-based solutions for coastal hazards mitigation.