New Website Offers Easy Access to NIST Disaster and Failure Study Data

From NIST Tech Beat: August 16, 2011
Contact: Michael E. Newman
301-975-3025

For more than 40 years, scientists and engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have studied structural failures caused by natural disasters, fires and man-made factors, and used the lessons learned to improve building and fire codes, standards and practices. With the launch of the Disaster and Failure Events Data Repository, NIST has begun to make this valuable information accessible more easily online.

Example of the photos that may be viewed on the new NIST Disaster and Failure Events Data Repository shows a worker from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at New York City’s World Trade Center complex a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Credit: FEMA

The repository will ensure that data collected during and after a disaster or failure event, as well as data generated from related research, is organized and maintained to enable study, analysis and comparison with future severe disaster events. It also will serve as a national archival database where other organizations can store the research, findings and outcomes of their disaster and failure studies.
As the database grows, it will include data on significant hazard events; how buildings and other structures performed during those events; associated emergency response and evacuation procedures; and the technical, social and economic factors that affect pre-disaster mitigation activities and post-disaster response efforts.
The Disaster and Failure Events Data Repository is being established in two phases:

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