Recent USGS Success Stories

• USGS Warns San Francisco

Residents of Landslide Dangers -

In early 1998 during record-breaking

El Niño storms, the USGS provided

emergency workers in the 10-county

San Francisco Bay region with maps

of landslide hazard areas and realtime warnings of increased landslide

risks. No loss of life occurred from

these landslides, compared to 25

killed in comparable storms in

1982. For more information please

visit the landslide Web site at

http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/

html_files/landslides/sfbay/

locmap.html.

• Flood Warnings Protect People - As

floods ravaged many areas of the

United States in 1998, USGS

personnel maintained a nationwide

system of more than 7,000 stream

gages. These gages provide

accurate, timely information on

water levels, which the National

Weather Service uses to issue local

and regional flood warnings. Local

officials also use stream-gage data to

make timely decisions about

evacuating people in flood-prone

areas. Real-time streamflow data are

available on the Internet at

http://water.usgs.gov/realtime.html.

• USGS Responds to Hurricane

Mitch - Just days after Hurricane

Mitch devastated Central America,

killing more than 9,000 people, the

USGS's Center for Integration of

Natural Disaster Information (CINDI)

devised a computer-based geographic

atlas of Central America that contains

more than 100 different types of

geographic information. The CINDI

atlas being used by relief workers

includes maps of destroyed roads and

bridges, destroyed or damaged utility

lines, areas of crop destruction and

damage, and areas vulnerable to

landslides and floods. The CINDI

atlas will help the people of Central

America rebuild in areas less prone

to landslides and flooding. To view

the CINDI atlas of Central America,

please visit their Web site at

http://cindi.usgs.gov.

Natural Hazards

Minimizing the Effects

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet 093-99

January 1999

Hurricane Mitch was the most destructive hurricane in the

history of the Western Hemisphere. From Oct. 27 through

Nov. 1, 1998, it battered the Caribbean coast and parts of

Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, in

Central America.

Houses in Oakland, Calif., destroyed by landslide during the

1997-98 El Niño.

USGS stream gages quickly provide information used for emergency warnings as well as the long-term data needed to understand

flood risks. This clickable map of the real-time stream-gaging network is on the web at http://water.usgs.gov/realtime.html. 
Minimizing the Effects of

Future Natural Hazards

Preparing for Future Natural

Hazard Events

The USGS conducts evaluations

following disasters to help minimize

the impacts of future events and to

help communities prepare better

hazard assessments for vulnerable

regions. Evaluation data are essential

for developing hazard-resistant

structures, better land use planning

and building codes, and emergency

response plans. 

For example, in 1998, the USGS

released interactive maps of the entire

Nation showing local ground movements that are expected to occur in

future earthquakes. This mapping

system represents the result of more

than 30 years of seismic data

collection and research. The new

maps will be used by local officials,

planners, and designers to develop

and refine new building codes; design

safer highways, bridges, buildings,

and utilities; estimate the stability and

landslide potential of hillsides; derive

insurance rates for properties; set

construction standards to help ensure

the safety of waste-disposal facilities;

and plan earthquake mitigation

practices and emergency response

procedures. For more information

please visit our Web site at

http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/eq/html/

intermaps.shtml.

USGS Natural Hazards

Research for the Future

To protect the lives and property of

our citizens, the USGS will continue

to gather real-time data during natural

hazards, to disseminate real-time

hazard data to relief workers, to do

long-term monitoring and forecasting

of natural hazards, and to evaluate

conditions in the aftermath of

disasters. One major challenge for the

future will be to maintain long-term

data sets on natural hazards while

expanding access to the data by all

who need this critical information.

Information

For more information on natural

hazards research at the USGS, please

or visit our Web sites at

http://www.usgs.gov and

http://www.usgs.gov/themes/

hazard.html.

The USGS protects people from

natural hazards by providing upto-the-minute (real-time) disaster

information to help people get out

of harm's way. Longer term monitoring and research on natural

hazards help people stay out of

harm's way.

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Mount Rainier, a recently active volcano, looms over the City of Tacoma, Wash.

Southern Alaska faces substantial seismic risk.

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National maps of earthquake shaking hazards provide essential information for developing

effective building codes in the United States.