This presentation provides an overview of the activities involved in the development of the LSU System Disaster Resistant University plan with a particular focus on non-traditional efforts. Developing an effective plan for a college campus is challenging: a campus’ footprint is fairly limited, which presents obstacles in regard to data availability and vulnerability modeling; student populations are often unfamiliar with local hazard conditions; hazardous research and materials are frequently present on campus; and so forth. Thus, generating meaningful and realistic hazard, vulnerability and risk assessments for a university by means of traditional input data and modeling approaches is difficult. New and creative ways of leveraging the institution’s strengths are needed to overcome these obstacles.
In an attempt to develop a comprehensive and effective planning tool, the LSU System Plan went beyond the basic DRU requirements. Unique to this Plan are: (a) an extensive building assessment and the integration of the assessment data into HAZUS-MH, (b) the use of a user-generated population and building inventory for more realistic impact modeling in HAZUS-MH, (c) the utilization of day-time population estimates instead of census data, (d) the implementation of a user-defined analysis level at the building level – instead of census blocks, (e) comprehensive archival work to supplement generic hazards information, (f) incorporation of a hazardous material inventory, (g) direct involvement of students through service learning courses, and (h) the utilization of social media, web-based mapping and feedback tools
