Information Exchange

DEM profiles discussion precipitating the DEM Pilot

Elevation Pilot study of newer technologies in DEM production

Reverse Chronology of Events

10-meter DEMs for the remaining Puget Sound Lowlands (Projects Ediz Hook and Birch Point have been distributed to the Division Data Management representatives.

January 11, 1999

10-meter DEMs for the eastern Puget Sound Lowlands have been distributed to the Division Data Management representatives. This lot includes reworked FY97 file (176 count) and those north of the project area to the Canadian border.

December 18, 1998

Bureau participants agree to rename Urban Geologic and Hydrologic Hazards Initiative as the Seattle Area Natural Hazards Project.

November 25, 1998

A redraft of the Five Year Implementation Plan is released by Paula Gori, along with a timeline of products (Appendix A). These documents are available in Word97 format, as dft5yr.doc and dft5yra.doc respectively.

October 15, 1998

The Executive Committee and Implementation Team met in Tacoma to discuss the Implementation Plan and to review ongoing activities. Tom Zembrzuski was officially named to replace Sandy Williamson as the Implementation Team member for WRD.

Sept 1, 1998

Email from John List outlines the LIDAR agreement for the Snoqualmie River Valley near Fall City, WA.

May 5-6, 1998

USGS Executive and Implementation Teams met in Tacoma, WA to present project summaries and discuss the 5-year Implementation Plan.

March 24, 1998

USGS memebership met in Tacoma to discuss development of a Newer Technology Elevation Pilot study area, and the May meeting agenda. Two prospective areas were discussed: the Seattle Fault and the Snoqualmie River valley.

February 24-25, 1998

USGS Workshop on Economics and Social Science in Williamsburg, Virginia. John Filson and Paula Gori present the Urban Hazards poster on behalf of Initiative participants. See Graphics and Data page for explanation and downloadable images.

February 17,1998

Dave Catts submits breakout of NMD FY98 Budget to NMD-HQ and GD-HQ

February 9, 1998

Conference call surrounds discussion of upcoming USGS Workshop on Economics and Social Science to be held February 24-26 in Williamsburg, Virginia. John Filson and Paula Gori are expected to attend.

February 5, 1998

USGS representatives participated in a Project Impact signing ceremony in Seattle, Washington, on February 5, along with FEMA Director James Lee Witt; Seattle Mayor Schell; and University of Washington President Richard McCormick. Project Impact is FEMA's national initiative to help communities to reduce the loss of lives and property from natural disasters by developing locally based mitigation programs based on public and private partnerships. The USGS will provide earthquake and landslide hazards assessments to help guide mitigation strategies for Seattle, one of seven Project Impact pilot communities.

January 30, 1998

The Annual Meeting has been scheduled for May 5-6 in Tacoma (Sheraton or WRD Offices).

January 21, 1998 replaces July 15, 1997

Changes to the 1:24,000-scale Digital Elevation Model (DEM) production at 10-meter resolution within FY98. View a screen-sized GIF file, or download a Arc/Info graphics file (707202 bytes) of production areas. The area to the southwest, as light blue of the Initiative area had been completed prior to the Initiative and in FY96. The medium blue quads were completed under FY97 Urban Hazards resources at the Rocky Mountain Mapping Center.

The remaining areas are being reprioritized under FY98 resources: the pink area of Puget Sound lowland, now extending westward beyond the 123-degree,15-minute West Longitude extent, and including a reprocessing of the original fifty quads in light blue, are now proposed at a higher priority than the yellow highland area in the east. The remaining tiles in orange, those originally identified within the Initiative area, have no priority assigned.

Problems identified in the DEM production methodology, those shown in light blue, precipitated the request for reprocessing these original fifty files.

December 19, 1997

The Executive Committee met in Reston, Virginia to clarify issues on communication, cooperation with FEMA, and the annual meeting.

November 26, 1997 replaces October 22 1997

Pilot study of NMD DEM Level 2 data production

October 29, 1997

Members of the Executive and Implementation Teams met in Reston, Virginia to review the FY97 Annual Report, and issues on management activities, organization nomenclature, future meetings, archives, and reports.

October 20, 1997

10-meter DEMs available for the central portion of the Urban Hazards area. Distribution was on two 8mm tapes (Lot2a and Lot2b). See Lot2a-readme file or Lot2b-readme file for file-to-quad translation.

October 8-9, 1997

Draft notes from the NMD-WRD-GD DEM Meeting are available for review.

August 15, 1997

10-meter DEMs available for southwest portion of Hazards area at FTP site. See Lot1-readme file for file-to-quad translation.

July 17, 1997

National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) issues its Earthquake Loss Estimation Methodology Study.

July 15, 1997

1:24,000-scale Digital Elevation Model (DEM) files at 10-meter resolution are being planned for production for this summer 1997.

June 3, 1997

WRD prioritization of USGS 1:24,000-scale (10-meter) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) production

May 12, 1997

USGS attended the first meeting of the Hazards Working Group of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). This was a preliminary and planning meeting where various Puget area government representatives discussed their interest in hazard studies and express their data requirements to support hazards issues to their local governments.

May 8-9, 1997

USGS Representatives of the Urban Hazards Initiative, along with University of Washington Department of Geophysics, received HAZUS training on the campus of Unv of WA from Scott Lawson of Risk Management Solutions (RMS). The two-day training covered data integration from HAZUS-assembled by-state data, setup and running of various earthquake events, and the evaluation of the resultant loss estimation data. USGS participants agree that a definition of two potential ground-shaking events, one off-shore and one on-shore within the Puget Sound region, are key to developing loss estimates within HAZUS.

May 3, 1997

A Index of Natural Hazards in the Puget Sound Basin is distributed by Craig Weaver (GD).

April 22, 1997

HAZUS training is rescheduled for Seattle during May 8-9 at the Department of Geophysics building on the University of Washington campus.

April 16, 1997

HAZUS training is scheduled for May 5-7 at Risk Management Solutions (RMS) facility in Palo Alto, CA

March 20, 1997

USGS is encouraged not to attend the HAZUS training April 4 in Menlo Park. This session is intended for government representatives of Pacific Island possessions and territories, and the technical level of the presentation is described as too elementary.

March 3, 1997

HAZUS training is scheduled for April 4 in the Menlo Park, CA area.

February 11, 1997

Management Report #97-01 issued from the Executive Committee to the Initiative Steering Committee. A chart of planned FY97 activities is attached.

January 16, 1997

USGS Urban Hazards participants meet with the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) to present a briefing to the Regional Staff Committee.

November 21-22, 1996

Washington State GIS '96 Conference in Seattle. Tom Sturm (NMD Western Mapping Center) presents the Urban Hazards poster on behalf of Initiative participants. See Graphics and Data page for explanation and downloadable image.

November 12, 1996

USGS and FEMA met in the Allen Library of the University of Washington in Seattle. Bob Page presented the agenda. Mike Crane suggested the Green River basin as a study area. Kevin Scott discussed lahars (debris flows) associated with Mount Rainier. Gill Jamieson (FEMA) presented an overview of HAZUS software. Bob Volland (FEMA) discussed technology transfer and the objective of cooperative activites. Gil Jamieson agreed to provide HAZUS software to Craig Weaver, as already provided to Art Tarr (GD-Golden).

November 3, 1996

HAZUS demonstration is delayed until November 12.

October 31, 1996

Sandy Williamson (WRD) is selected by Bob Hirsh as WRD's contact regarding Urban Hazards. Sandy will replace Carl Goodwin on Urban Hazards issues.

October 8, 1996

Bob Volland (FEMA Mitigation Directorate) is contacted by Bob Page (GD Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program). Tom Yelin (GD) is mentioned as the Initiative Coordinator in this October 3, 1996 draft of the 5-year Implementation Plan.

October 7, 1996

Conference call to discuss outstanding issues. Mike Crane (NMD) appoints Dave Catts (NMD) as NMD representative on the Initiative. Dave Catts volunteers to chair the Data Standards and Management Working Group, and Joseph Jones (WRD) and Ralph Haugerud (GD) are the Division representatives. A Loss Estimation Working Group is proposed, and a demonstation of the NIBS/RMS HAZUS package is scheduled for October 29, 1996.

September 30, 1996

The Five-year Implementation Plan is finalized by the Urban Hazards Implementation Team (Craig Weaver, Carl Goodwin, Mike Crane)

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
The URL of this page is:  http://seattlehazards.usgs.gov/restricted/index.html
Contact:  dcatts@usgs.gov
Updated:  8 April 1999