Projects

*Hazard Characterization:

The objective of this project is to characterize the wind environment associated with Hurricane Maria’s impact on Puerto Rico, including topographic effects, and to document other hazards associated with the hurricane, including storm surge, rainfall, flooding, and landslides. This project is supported by contracts with Applied Research Associates, Inc., for wind-field modeling, and with the University of Florida, for wind tunnel testing of topographic models, with a subcontract to Weatherflow, Inc., for field measurement of winds. More information about this project can be found through the following links: 

• Project updates in Hospitals Theme Presentation (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (August 2018)

*Performance of Critical Buildings:

The objective of this project is to characterize the performance of critical buildings in Hurricane Maria by evaluating damage and loss of function for representative hospitals, schools, and storm shelters with respect to the hazards they experienced and by evaluating the selection criteria and design requirements for storm shelters. This project is supported by contracts with Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., for evaluation of critical buildings, and with the University of Florida, for wind tunnel testing of building models. More information about this project can be found through the following links: 

• Project updates in Hospitals and Sheltering Theme Presentations (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (August 2018)

*Public Response to Emergency Communications:

The objective of this project is to investigate the role of emergency communications in public response for those under imminent threat from Hurricane Maria. This project will also examine the use of communications during response and recovery (during and immediately after the hurricane). Data collection for this project is supported by a contract with the Horsley Witten Group, Inc., along with subcontractors Eastern Research Group, Issues & Answers, and Albizu University in Puerto Rico. More information about this project can be found through the following links:  

• Project updates in Sheltering Theme Presentation (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (August 2018)

*Characterization of Morbidity and Mortality:

The objective of this project is to complete a quantitative morbidity and mortality assessment of Puerto Rico in order to better understand how damaged buildings and failures in the supporting infrastructure played a role in the injuries and deaths associated with Hurricane Maria. The study results will provide guidance to improve building codes and standards, and to inform future approaches to accurately attribute and predict life loss due to building failures caused by windstorms. This project is supported by a contract with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, along with the University of Puerto Rico-Graduate School of Public Health and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. More information about this project can be found through the following links: 

• Project updates in Hospitals and Infrastructure Dependencies Theme Presentations (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (August 2018)  

Recovery of Business and Supply Chains:

The objective of this project is to characterize the recovery of small- and medium-sized enterprises, including manufacturing, retail, and service sectors in Puerto Rico, to provide greater understanding of business continuity resilience planning and supply chain continuity and how these may differ among industries or affected regions. Data collection for this project is supported by a contract with the Horsley Witten Group, Inc., along with subcontractors Eastern Research Group, Issues & Answers, and Albizu University in Puerto Rico. More information about this project can be found through the following links:  

• Project updates in Infrastructure Dependencies Theme Presentation (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (November 2018) 

Recovery of Social Functions:

The objective of this project is to examine the recovery trajectories of sampled schools and hospitals in Puerto Rico to identify the underlying characteristics and conditions associated with recovery of critical social functions from Hurricane Maria. Data collection for this project is supported by the Horsley Witten Group, Inc., along with subcontractors Eastern Research Group, Issues & Answers, and Albizu University in Puerto Rico. More information about this project can be found through the following links:  

• Project updates in Sheltering and Infrastructure Dependencies Theme Presentations (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (November 2018)
• Recruitment for this project is active

Impacts to and Recovery of Infrastructure Systems Supporting Critical Buildings and Emergency Communications:

The objective of this project is to evaluate the dependencies of building function on infrastructure (power, water, and transportation), including cascading loss of function and sequencing of recovery activities following Hurricane Maria, and to examine the causes of the loss of functionality and extended-duration outage of the wireless communications system. Data collection for this project is supported by a contract with the Horsley Witten Group, Inc., along with subcontractors Eastern Research Group, Issues & Answers, and Albizu University in Puerto Rico. More information about this project can be found through the following links:

• Project updates in Infrastructure Dependencies Theme Presentation (June 2023)
• Project Update (June 2022)
• Preliminary Project Plan (August 2018)
• Recruitment for this project is active

*Indicates an NCST Project. Other projects are being conducted under the NWIRP authority.