News CelsiusPro and GEM partnership aims to expand earthquake and climate risk financing options through parametric insurance By: ​ ​ Nov 10, 2022 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ CelsiusPro, a pioneering parametric insurance solutions provider in climate and NatCat risk protection, has established a partnership with the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, an international public-private organisation that is improving the state of practice of earthquake hazard and risk assessment through the development of open global databases and models, the OpenQuake software, and stakeholder capacity for risk assessment globally. The partnership aims to help communities worldwide mitigate the economic impacts of earthquakes by leveraging the state-of-the-art technology behind CelsiusPro’s end-to-end system for digital parametric insurance solutions, and GEM’s advanced earthquake models and data and commitment to an open, transparent, and collaborative approach at the global, regional, national and local levels. “Our organizations are bound by a shared vision for a safe and disaster-resilient world. For GEM, this partnership provides an excellent opportunity to apply GEM’s models and data for new risk financing opportunities that will contribute to risk reduction objectives. At the same time, we also see this as an opportunity for sharing and exchanging scientific knowledge in processing and analysing risk data and modelling approaches with CelsiusPro in the years ahead,” John Schneider, GEM Secretary General. “Our partnership with GEM will further enhance our risk modeling capabilities for earthquakes allowing us to better serve our clients with risk analysis and product solutions. Providing a fast and efficient payout to bridge the first weeks following natural disasters such as earthquakes, is critical for the survival and future economic prosperity of companies in the affected areas,” says Mark Rueegg, CEO of CelsiusPro. ----- About CelsiusPro CelsiusPro, the Swiss boutique InsurTech company, has been pioneering parametric insurance solutions since 2008, helping its clients mitigate the effects of extreme weather and natural catastrophes worldwide. CelsiusPro provides customized and comprehensive White Label Platform (WLP) solutions to insurers to offer parametric hurricane, earthquake, and agriculture insurance products to its clients. The WLP solutions are turn-key technology solutions for end-to-end management of insurance policies including but not limited to risk modeling, pricing, offer and policy generation, risk monitoring and payout calculation. For information about further products and services, please visit www.celsiuspro.com . About GEM Foundation GEM was formed in 2009 as a non-profit foundation in Pavia, Italy, funded through a public-private sponsorship with the vision to create a world that is resilient to earthquakes. GEM is funded by public and private institutions globally, and is advised by many international organizations ( https://www.globalquakemodel.org/partners ). GEM is also recognized by the UN as an NGO, operating under UN guidelines for a humanitarian organization. GEM’s mission is to become one of the world’s most complete sources of risk resources and a globally accepted standard for earthquake risk assessment. Further, GEM aims to ensure that its products are applied broadly in disaster risk management/reduction and its services are available and accessible to public, private and academic institutions worldwide. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News Communicating Risk: How we respond to risk and what that means for communication By: ​ ​ May 21, 2020 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ GEM participated recently in a UNDRR Geneva-sponsored webinar facilitated by Jeanette Elsworth, UNDRR Senior Public Information Officer. The webinar explores the emotive way people respond to risk, why even if armed with all the facts, we may still have trouble persuading people to do the right thing. The webinar also touched on what behavioral economics can teach us about the way we respond to risk, and how we apply this to policy making and public-facing media communications. Speakers include experts from behavioral economics and communications with introductory remarks from Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the UN for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR. Kate Orkin, Senior Research Fellow in Behavioral Economics at the University of Oxford talked about ‘Incorporating how we behave under risk into COVID-19 communications’. She proposed that key messages must: speak socially, invoke the future and use every touch point you can to be effective in changing the intended audience’s behavior. Lisa Robinson, Head of Advisory, BBC Media Action presented the ‘3 common mistakes in designing risk communication’. She said that failure of risk communication strategies is due to the following: skimping on audience research, creating a snazzy product without a strategy for change, and avoiding conversation about risks. Ranil Dissanayake, adviser to the UK Department for International Development added that key messages and how they are designed are important in behavioral change but he also pointed out that key messages alone cannot be effective if the target demographic is faced by more immediate problems such as joblessness, poverty and hunger. However, he agreed with Kate and Lisa on the importance of understanding the intended audience in order to be effective in communicating risk. During the discussion, a trending topic focused on the importance of risk communication in changing behaviors, but participants also recognized the fact that it’s expensive and requires a lot of sustained work. Stephanie Speck, Head of Communications, Advocacy, Knowledge Management and IT, UNDRR gave the closing remarks, highlighting the possibility of a follow up webinar focusing on how to develop and implement a communication strategy when financial, material and human resources are limited. For the latest in risk communication online training and workshops, visit . No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

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News A UNISDR survey is underway to help develop an international framework for sharing risk information and promoting a pro-active culture of risk-informed decision-making By: ​ ​ Mar 20, 2019 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ The UNISDR is currently conducting a survey to inform the development of a Global Risk Assessment Framework (GRAF). The information will be used to develop an initial assessment and understanding of the profiles of potential users of GRAF and their needs (existing and anticipated) with the goal of establishing an international framework for developing and sharing risk information and promoting a pro-active culture of risk-informed decision-making. The survey was developed by the GRAF Mapping & Gap Analysis Working Group, co-led by John Schneider (GEM) and John Rees (BGS representative the GEM Governing Board), which is providing expert advice to the the UNISDR on the GRAF. Inasmuch as GEM itself is a part of the envisaged GRAF, GEM also aims to use the results of the survey to inform GEM’s strategic planning process. Therefore, for the benefit of the GRAF and GEM, we would very much appreciate your filling out the questionnaire. The GRAF and GEM would like to better understand: how your organisation is perceiving the barriers and opportunities for leveraging disaster risk management from different angles, including: i. Geographic scales – from global, national, sub-national, to local; ii. Risk dimensions – hazard, exposure and vulnerability; iii. Impact dimensions – human, ecological, economic, infrastructural and political. The questionnaire has nine questions and takes about 10-20 minutes to complete. We would very much appreciate your responses by 1st April. Thank you in advance for your participation. << TAKE THE SURVEY >> No images found. GALLERY 1/4 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM Hazard Modeling Tools Workshop By: ​ ​ Jul 2, 2018 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ The workshop, held at GEM’s Headquarters in Pavia, Italy from March 15-17, 2017 gathered more than 20 experts and scientists from different parts of the world – Europe, Nepal, China, Thailand and Japan – representing public and private sectors. Speaking on behalf of the Chinese Earthquake Administration participants, Mengtan Gao, Deputy Director of the Institute of Geophysics, underscores the importance of the workshop saying, “This workshop is important for China Earthquake Administration because we learned new techniques and methodologies in seismic hazard assessment, particularly those being used here in Europe”. He adds further, “Our young seismologists can take these learnings back to China and apply them to the next generation of seismic hazard maps that China plans to develop next year”. Mengtan Gao (R) has served the China Earthquake Administration for 36 years. He hopes to build the capacity of his young colleagues in seismic assessment through GEM’s OpenQuake engine. While other participants are just beginning to understand and appreciate OpenQuake Engine, the General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan (GIROJ) has started translating the users’ manual into Japanese. Mr. Suguru of GIROJ says, “GEM’s OpenQuake engine is the global standard tool for seismic hazard and risk analyses. We are translating the manual so more of our partners and colleagues can use the engine.” Mr. Suguru has a background in applied mathematics and is leading the translation of GEM’s OpenQuake engine manual into Japanese in GIROJ. Capacity development is one of the major activities of GEM to help build national and local technical capacities in hazard and risk assessment around the world. Being at the cusp of completing Work Programme 2, GEM is gearing up to implement a training program on how to use various tools freely available at OpenQuake platform for its various partners and stakeholders at national and regional levels. Participants from NSET Nepal discuss with John Schneider, GEM Secretary General, plans to re-echo what they have learned from the workshop at national level. Sujan Raj and Kapil believe that translating the OpenQuake manual would help their colleagues in adapting the tool for analyzing seismic hazard and risk data of Nepal.Maria del Puy of ZAMG, “We are a small organization and just starting up. We participated in this workshop because of OpenQuake engine’s open and transparent development approach. This is what attracted us to use and try it. So far this workshop has given us a good idea of what the engine can do.” No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News Methods and Tools Innovation for Seismic Risk Assessment project By: ​ ​ Jul 25, 2020 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ GEM is set to start a 3- year project called METIS or Methods and Tools Innovation for Seismic Risk Assessment funded by the European Commission. The project is part of the program. Electricite De France (EDF), a GEM technical collaborator, is coordinating the project which will be implemented in collaboration with 14 other organizations. The project will start in September 2020 and end in August 2024. The objective of is to translate research into practice through rigorous and efficient methodologies and tools to assess seismic safety of NPP (nuclear power plants). It also aims to innovate current practice by combining simulation with experimental data. The research will develop methods to improve the ability to define safety limits for extremely rare events, which go beyond current design analyses (i.e. design extension for earthquakes). The refined seismic PSA (probabilistic safety assessment) is expected to provide meaningful support in defining regulations for safe design of NPP, as well as for assessing plant safety in real-time in case of temporary unavailability of relevant safety equipment or structures. GEM will contribute to the task on seismic hazard assessment and the one on PSA Tools and Methodology. In the hazard task, GEM will implement into the OQ Engine methods such as vector-valued probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), cluster-based PSHA as well as new methods to propagate epistemic uncertainties. Research will also be carried out in the context of processing earthquake catalogues to remove aftershocks and foreshocks and on testing PSHA models. GEM’s contribution to the PSA Tools and Methodology will concentrate on testing risk results. The participation of GEM in this high-level program will not only enhance GEM’s scientific advancement of earthquake hazard analysis using the OpenQuake engine, but will also promote a two-way sharing of knowledge and skills with other project collaborators for the advancement of earthquake hazard assessment to critical infrastructure such as nuclear power plants. The results of this project will help nuclear operators in their periodic safety reviews and to respond to the high-level EU-wide safety objectives of the amended EURATOM nuclear safety directive (stress tests). The considered accident scenarios will provide input for updating severe accident management guidelines (SAMG). No images found. GALLERY 1/2 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News International Conference for the Decade Memory of the Wenchuan Earthquake By: ​ ​ Jul 12, 2018 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ The 4th International Conference on Continental Earthquakes organized by the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) was held from May 12-14, 2018 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake. “It has been 10 years since the great earthquake of Wenchuan, Sichuan, southwest China. The impact of that devastating event on either natural science or social sustainability was so important that a decade review will be of no doubt worth for further development,” said Prof. Guoguang Zheng, conference convener and Director of China Earthquake Administration. In line with this, GEM’s Marco Pagani with CEA’s Prof. Mengtan Gao co-organized a session on the activities promoted by Global Earthquake Model. In this session, Anirudh Rao from the GEM Risk Team presented how the OpenQuake engine could be used to assess earthquake risk. Examples of annual average losses, exposure and vulnerability models were presented to emphasize the scientific features of the engine. Anirudh also emphasized the importance of open tools and open data being promoted by GEM. This conference had also been a venue to report the progress of GEM-CEA collaboration to implement China’s national earthquake hazard model on OpenQuake. The collaboration, which started in 2017 hopes to update China’s hazard model for better understanding of future earthquakes in the country. The GEM-CEA technical partnership aims to further fine tune the model for mitigation purposes. In one of the presentations, Professor Tso-Chien Pan from the Institute of Catastrophe Risk Management-NTU Singapore showed a case-study using OpenQuake to investigate the effects of high-resolution location-based exposure data on seismic risk estimates of urbanized regions in Southeast Asia. About the Wenchuan earthquake Sichuan earthquake of 2008, also called Wenchuan earthquake or Great Wenchuan Earthquake, Chinese Wenchuan dizhen or Wenchuan Da Dizhen, massive and enormously devastating earthquake that occurred in the mountainous central region of Sichuan province in southwestern China on May 12, 2008. The epicentre of the magnitude-7.9 quake (measured as magnitude 8.0 by the Chinese) was located near the city of Dujiangyan, about 50 miles (80 km) west-northwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, at a depth of 11.8 miles (19 km) below the surface. The May 2008 quake flattened some four-fifths of the structures in the affected area. Whole villages and towns in the mountains were destroyed, and many schools collapsed. Almost 90,000 people were counted as dead or missing and presumed dead in the final official Chinese government assessment; the officially reported total killed included more than 5,300 children, the bulk of them students attending classes.(source: https://www.britannica.com/event/Sichuan-earthquake-of-2008) No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM conducts OpenQuake Workshop of 2019 at IIT Gandhinagar, India By: ​ ​ Mar 25, 2019 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn OpenQuake workshop participants, IIT Gandhinagar, India About 20 individuals participated in GEM’s first OpenQuake Workshop of 2019. The event, organized and coordinated by the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) professors Svetlana Brzev and Manish Kumar was held in Gandhinagar from 18-19 March 2019. Vitor Silva and Anirudh Rao of the GEM Risk Team presented the Global Earthquake Model and discussed the seismic hazard and risk assessment for India, which was developed jointly with the GEM team and members from IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, and IIT Gandhinagar. The model allows the estimation of losses due to earthquakes in India, considering the local construction practices. “Seismic risk associated with the Indian building stock is an important topic and we are pleased to support this important research initiative by hosting the workshop” said Prof. Sudhir K. Jain, earthquake engineer and IITGN Director. The workshop was covered by local online news media in Gujarati (gandhinagarsamachar.com) and English ( indiatimes.com ) . No images found. GALLERY 1/4 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News Development of local capacities for risk assessment and management, key to sustainable and effective risk solutions By: ​ ​ Aug 30, 2021 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ GEM’s John Schneider, Vitor Silva, Alejandro Calderon and more than 30 other experts, practitioners and authorities from around the world remotely joined the International Seminar on Risk Management & Sustainable Development held in Quito, Ecuador in June. The event, organized by the University of the Armed Forces (ESPE) - one of the top universities in Ecuador, was held to establish the Center of Excellence for Risk Assessment and Management and Climate Change for Ecuador (CERAM-Ecuador). The aim of CERAM-Ecuador is to develop sustainable and effective solutions for the development of local capacities for risk assessment and management. Carlos Villacis, former Regional Program Manager and Strategy Coordinator for GEM, is the principal driver behind the creation of CERAM. Carlos said, “I am very pleased to be working again with GEM for the generation of knowledge products and the provision of integrated support to risk assessment and management at all levels, not only in Ecuador, but globally. I am convinced that, to be truly global, GEM needs to have a stronger presence in the regions. CERAM will promote the standardization of GEM tools and methodologies through an adaptation process that makes them better aligned with the realities, needs and priorities in Ecuador as well as other regions.” [00:42:40 - 01:24:00] discussing the full spectrum of GEM’s approach to global earthquake hazard and risk modelling, while [3:33:00 - 4:24:00], providing detailed insights on GEM’s urban hazard and risk modelling approach. On June 24th, the final day of the event, John Schneider joined the round table discussion on the future of disaster risk management in Ecuador and the role of CERAM. John expressed GEM’s commitment to the regional initiative at the recently concluded international seminar in Quito, Ecuador saying, “We are looking forward to working together in capacity development and training, exposure database development for all hazards not only for today’s built-environment and population but also for future growth and future risks, and in the use of model results for input to decision making to reduce and manage risk.” GEM and CERAM-Ecuador share the same vision and principles: an open platform to share knowledge and skills in risk assessment and modelling through training, capacity development, technical and student exchange. Watch John’s full message at from 3:39:00 - 3:44:00. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM to contribute expertise to high performance computing in the field of seismology hazards By: ​ ​ Mar 17, 2020 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ (updated November 16, 2020) In February, GEM became an institutional member of the Industry and Users Board (IUB) of the ChEESE consortium (Center of Excellence for Exascale in Solid Earth (ChEESE; www.cheese-coe.eu ). The ChEESE Project Supervisory Board officially approved on the meeting held on October 6th ,2020, the entry of GEM Foundation as member of the Industry and Users Board (IUB) of the Project. The project develops several Pilot Demonstrators oriented to society on critical aspects of geohazards like hazard assessment, urgent computing, and early warning. The ChEESE, a European infrastructure project coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), is establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) in the domain of Solid Earth; targeting the preparation of codes and workflows for the upcoming pre-Exascale (2020) and Exascale (2022) supercomputers. One important part of the CoE is the Industry and Users Board (IUB), which at present gathers 22 companies, international institutions and organizations. Recognizing GEM’s work in the seismic hazard analysis domain using the OpenQuake engine, ChEESE expanded its current Board to include the GEM Foundation. The role of the IUB is to provide feedback on ChEESE project results and to participate in meetings during the life of the project, and during the General Assemblies. “As coordinator of the project I am very glad to welcome GEM to IUB ChEESE. I am looking forward to GEM’s expertise and advice on the potential usability of ChEESE results as services for civil protection and private initiatives,” Dr. Arnau Folch Duran, Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Spain. Dr. Duran further added that the mutual benefit of the collaboration lies in the active exchange of developments in the fields of seismology, volcanology and tsunami hazards, in particular, in works that are related to high performance computing. “We have working relationships with many of the organizations on the IUB and we welcome the opportunity to become better connected through ChEESE. This will be a good opportunity for GEM to learn how we might contribute to and leverage ChEESE modelling capabilities for national and international civil protection and private initiatives,” John Schneider, Secretary General, GEM Foundation. Project partners on seismological, tsunami and volcano hazard include INGV in Rome, ETH Zurich, IPGP, CNRS, the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the University of Malaga, the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, the supercomputing centers of BSC, CINECA, HLRS Stuttgart, and LMU/TUM in Munich, amongst others. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS