GEM users and beneficiaries of are broad. They include all those who make decisions based on earthquake risk: (1) governmental and non-governmental agencies/organisations that respond to natural hazards, (2) engineers and builders, (3) risk professionals, (4) large corporations, insurance companies and investment groups, (5) individuals living in earthquake-prone areas; and also include: (6) the scientific community and (7) the general public.
In order to serve this wide spectrum of users, GEM will ensure that products and outputs are accessible and intuitive, while pursuing the highest level of scientific rigor.
- For the non-expert user, seismic risk estimates will be available as maps or graphs in an easily understandable form, helping to raise awareness of seismic risk amongst the general public and to support individual (financial) decisions.
- The risk professional (working for instance in insurance or catastrophe modelling) will be able to access the databases to understand not only how the risk is computed, but also what its underlying uncertainty is. That information enables the organisations they work for to enchance their products and services throughout the world.
- Possibly the most important potential use is in cost/benefit analysis. The tools and data provided by GEM will allow municipalities and national authorities to directly quantify and demonstrate the effects of potential mitigation measures.
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GEM will enable cost-benefit analysis of risk mitigation actions.
Officials and professionals -like those involved in urban planning- will be able to use that information. |
Moreover, a multitude of examples of end-user groups are envisioned at global, regional and local levels. For example:
- International bodies will be able to use global scale interactive tools allowing regional comparison as an aid for decision making, including development assistance allocations.
- Investment groups will be able to use local and regional interactive tools for investment decisions.
- Various industries, such as utilities, construction and leisure, will be able to use those same local and regional interactive tools for planning and development of projects.
- NGOs and aid agencies will be able to target their programmes and projects to actual needs, basing themselves on realistic and uniform risk information.
- Scientists and engineers around the globe will be able to use the data and tools that GEM provides to enhance (multidisciplinary) scientific research.
