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More than 20 people representing government, academic institutions and civil society organizations in Nepal participated in the interactive seminar on "Potential Applicability of Global Earthquake Hazard and Risk Models in Nepal" held at NSET auditorium hall in Lalitpur on March 22, 2019. The seminar was jointly organized by The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation and National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) - Nepal.

Vitor Silva, GEM Risk Coordinator, and Anirudh Rao, Physical Risk Engineer, presented GEM and demonstrated OpenQuake and related tools, highlighting their specific applicability to improving earthquake risk assessment in Nepal.

Participants of the seminar included the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), Institute of Engineering (IOE), Nepal Geological Society, Society of Nepalese Architects (SoNA), Department of Geology at Tribhuvan University, Nepal Government, Survey Department, Department of Mines and Geology, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Build Change, and NSET among others.

Prior to the seminar, Vitor and Anirudh met with the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Building Division of the DUDBC to discuss the potential applicability of the national earthquake risk model for informing ongoing risk mitigation efforts in Nepal. Anirudh also participated in an "Earthquake Vulnerability Walking Tour" of Kathmandu organized by NSET structural engineers, which involved visual inspection and qualitative identification of the various factors contributing to the high vulnerability of buildings in the dense neighborhoods of the city centre.

In Gujarat, India, GEM conducted its first OpenQuake training workshop of 2019, co-organized with the support of Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) professors Svetlana Brzev and Manish Kumar. About 20 faculty members and graduate students from IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, and IIT Gandhinagar participated in the workshop held at IIT Gandhinagar from 18-19 March 2019. More details here.