E – 1753 Coastal Construction: Identifying Hazards

Buildings constructed in coastal areas are subject to natural hazards. The most significant natural hazards that affect the coastlines of the United States and territories can be divided into four general categories: Coastal flooding (including waves), Erosion, High winds, Earthquakes.

This course addresses each of these categories, as well as other hazards and environmental effects, but focuses on flooding and erosion. These two hazards are among the least understood and the least discussed in design and construction documents.

Designers have numerous resources available that discuss wind and seismic hazards in detail, so they will be dealt with in less detail here. In order to construct buildings to resist these natural hazards and reduce existing buildings’ vulnerability to such hazards, proper planning, siting, design, a construction are critical and require an understanding of the coastal environment, including coastal geology, coastal processes, regional variations in coastline characteristics, and coastal sediment budgets.