Given the increase in the degree of intensity of the natural phenomenaas a consequence of climate change, Arizona State University (ASU) developed HazardAware, a platform that allows potential buyers of living place know the natural risks in the area where the property they are interested in is located.
Taking as reference the area of the Gulf of Mexicothe website allows identifying places with a history of natural disasters, with the aim that buyers make informed decisions, according to the group of teachers in charge of developing the site.
“HazardAware generates disaster risk reports for 13.3 million households in almost 200 US counties located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico —including all of Florida, and parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas,” ASU detailed.
By providing an address, users can obtain information about:
- The costs to contemplate to repair the damages by natural phenomenaand a breakdown of the costs caused by environmental factors, plus ways they can be mitigated.
- Risk factors and the historical risks of the community, as well as the forecast of possible damages by hurricanes or floods.
- A list of tips for potential buyers and renters of households.
The value of preventing risks
For the platform developers, the relevance of this type of tool lies in the fact that a buyer of living place You must not only take into account the price you will pay for a house, but also the potential risks and expenses to which it is exposed.
For example, a house with three bedrooms, a boat dock, near a marina and a restaurant in Lafitte, Louisiana, can fetch a price of $160,000.
However, this price does not take into account that homeowners will have to spend about $6,232 per year for environmental risks such as wind and rain, and that, even in the event of a greater impact, obtaining government support for natural disasters is not certain.
“That valuable information can be found on a new website called HazardAware, a new tool that helps property owners, renters and buyers households in the United States to assess the risk of properties located in the area of the Gulf of Mexico, and to make informed decisions”, explained the University.
For Melanie Gall, a clinical professor and co-director of ASU’s Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security, who is part of the development team, a traditional real estate app offers home prices. households and even gives estimates on mortgage payments and insurance amount, but does not detail the additional expenses that will be a financial burden in the long term.
“But you have no idea of the context you are getting into or the risk you are taking. What is not taken into account is how much it costs to recover when a catastrophe occurs”, explained the academic.
The origin
The project for the development of HazardAware obtained 3.4 million dollars in grants from the Gulf Research Program, which is financed with the compensation paid by the company Deepwater Horizon for the oil spill that occurred in 2010 on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
However, due to its location in the Gulf area, the households they are conducive to facing natural disasters.
“In May, a home on the North Carolina coast collapsed onto the sand after a storm battered the area for several days. The owner had bought the house just nine months ago and admitted that he did not realize how vulnerable it was, despite warnings from federal agencies about rising seas, ”the University detailed in its published information.
“We want to shorten the time of awareness about where they live and the dangers they face and what to do about it,” said Melanie Gall.
It should be noted that Arizona State University is one of the most innovative universities, since according to the US News and World Report, it is among the 10 universities with the highest number of granted patents.