Hazards Reduction and Recovery Center faculty fellows, Mike Lindell and Carla Prater, have begun a three-year, $750,000 National Science Foundation research project to study hurricane and tsunami surge hazards.

The Texas A&M College of Architecture scientists will be working with Harry Yeh and Cherri Pancake of Oregon State University.

Summarizing the project objective, Lindell said: “Our first task, is to continue our work on the Evacuation Management Decision Support System by testing people’s ability to use different types of information about hazard onset — especially information about uncertainties in hurricane track and tsunami run-up — and population response — the time required to complete an evacuation under different types of circumstances. In the early stages of this task, we will conduct laboratory experiments with undergraduates.

“Our second task, Lindell continued, “is to conduct interviews of local jurisdictions vulnerable to tsunami, in Washington and Oregon, and hurricanes, in Texas, to identify the problems they face in adopting land use planning, building construction, and emergency preparedness practices to avoid damage and casualties. This task will involve traveling to coastal jurisdictions to meet with local officials.”