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A consortium led by the GEM Foundation with partners ImageCat Inc. and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team completed recently an open exposure database for multi-hazard risk assessment, as part of the Challenge Funds portfolio, managed by the GFDRR, and funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom.

The main objective of Challenge Fund Global Exposure Database for Multi-hazard Risk Analysis is the development of an open exposure database, for the purposes of performing multi-hazard risk analyses. The database is capable of storing different assets (building stock, lifelines, crops, socio-economic data) across six natural hazards: earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, strong winds, tsunamis and drought. The database has been successfully piloted in Tanzania for the development of an exposure model at the national scale, and to the city of Dar Es Salaam demonstrating how an exposure dataset at a building-by-building resolution can be created.

The process has also been demonstrated for five countries around Tanzania (Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique) as well as Cape Verde, Senegal, Mali, Niger and in other countries outside of the African continent. The outputs include a detailed description of the structure of the tables comprising the GED4ALL exposure database schema and the relationships between them, a description of the software components required for installation and basic operation of the database and the associated tools for converting, importing and exporting data.

Paul Henshaw, GEM Director of Technology and Development also notes that “The project is a major step forward in defining a global multi-hazard database for use in assessing risks due to natural hazards. The approach also demonstrates how the combination of international expertise, open standards, local knowledge, inclusiveness and collaborative approach can encourage risk awareness and mitigation.” Paul also presented the final outputs of Global Facility for Disaster Recovery and Reduction (GFDRR) Challenge Fund 2: Global Exposure Database for Multi-hazard Risk Analysis (GED4ALL) during the projects closing workshop held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from 22-24 March.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) and University College London (UCL) presented the results of Challenge Fund 1 (multi-hazard database) and 3 (vulnerability database) respectively. More than 30 individuals participated from various organizations such as Geological Survey of Tanzania, Ardhi University (Tanzania), Dar Es Salaam University (Tanzania), DFID Tanzania, Prime Minister's Office - Disaster Management Department (Tanzania), DoMA (Malawi), INGC (Mozambique), Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development (Uganda), ImageCat (USA), Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT Indonesia), NSET (Nepal), GFDRR (USA), DFID UK, IDF (Switzerland), BGS (UK), UA (Netherlands), NGI (Norway), NOC (UK), CIMA (Italy) and UCL-EPI (UK).