NIST Releases Online Economic Decision Tool to Help Communities Plan for Disaster
Preparing a community’s buildings and infrastructure for a hurricane or earthquake can be an incredibly complicated and costly endeavor. A new online tool from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could streamline this process and help decision makers invest in cost-effective measures to improve their community’s ability to mitigate, adapt to and recover from hazardous events.
With input from local and state government officials, NIST researchers developed the Economic Decision Guide Software (EDGe$) tool, a platform-independent web app, to provide a standard and easy-to-use method of evaluating and comparing different community projects to improve resilience. For community planners weighing options — whether to build a levee or add green space to reduce flooding in a neighborhood, for example — EDGe$ could reveal key economic insights about which choice would be a better fit, notes NIST. The new tool could be beneficial for state, local and private sector planners.