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MALAWI MULTI-HAZARD

Comprehensive Multi hazard Risk Assessment in Malawi

Overview

Background

Malawi is a country strongly affected by the impact of extreme events, exacerbated by rapid population growth and urbanization. A multi-risk assessment is currently lacking at the national level, while it is available only at the local level in some districts. Therefore, the project consortium intends to produce, for the first time, hazard and risk maps on a national level with a level of detail useful also at provincial level, using a probabilistic risk assessment approach, both for single hazards and for multi-hazard conditions (i.e. extreme winds and precipitation, earthquakes, landslides, river floods). The GEM Risk Team is reponsible for the seismic risk assessment, comprising the modelling of the hazard, exposure and vulnerability components and the calculations of seismic risk in the OpenQuake engine. 


Duration: 2023-2024

Objectives

In line with the guidelines of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the multi-hazard probabilistic assessment carried out within the project provides risk estimates for both the most probable and frequent events, as well as for rare ones; at the same time, it allows for the analysis of events that have never been observed, but may occur in the future, which is of particular importance considering the uncertainty caused by climate change. The assessment will therefore consider risks under current climate conditions as well as future conditions (2050-2100) under different climate change scenarios. For the realisation of the multi-risk assessment, the project partners will work closely with local stakeholders at all stages of the development, from data collection to the creation of the Risk Atlas and the Risk Information Web Platform, two tools that will collect information from the assessment and will make it easier to communicate and understand, thus following a capacity development approach that combines knowledge development with knowledge transfer. In addition, the partners will develop, again in collaboration with local stakeholders, a sustainability plan containing recommendations for maintaining and updating risk information, supporting the management, updating and accessibility of Malawi’s risk information by national and local authorities.

Collaborators

GEM Foundation, Centro Internazionale in Monitoraggio Ambientale (CIMA), Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS), British Geological Survey (BGS) 


Funding partner: World Bank Group

Location

Malawi

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