News Zurich Insurance Group Joins GEM Foundation as Private Governor Sponsor By: ​ ​ Dec 14, 2023 Dec 19, 2023 Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ December 19, 2023. Pavia, Italy. Zurich Insurance Group has instated its affiliation with the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, assuming its role as a private Governor sponsor. Zurich was one of the founding members of GEM at its inception in 2009 and served as a private Governor sponsor until the end of 2018. Following a formal approval during GEM's Governing Board meeting held from November 30th to December 1st, 2023, Iwan Stalder, Head of Accumulation Management, Group Risk Management at Zurich, will be representing the company in this partnership. The core objective of this alliance emphasises a commitment to improving global modelling and understanding of seismic hazard and risk, enhancing risk awareness, and fortifying communities against the repercussions of seismic activities. Zurich's decision to join GEM underscores a shared dedication to global disaster risk resilience. Iwan Stalder, commenting on Zurich's entry, stated, "We are excited to work with GEM, aligning our commitment to global resilience and the pursuit of risk mitigation strategies." Welcoming Zurich to the GEM family, Helen Crowley, GEM Secretary General, expressed, "We extend a warm welcome to Zurich Insurance Group. We look forward to their continued contributions that reinforce an improved understanding of global seismic risk, and that strengthen our shared goal of creating a more resilient world." Zurich's support as a private Governor sponsor signifies an essential step towards reinforcing international efforts in mitigating seismic risks and reducing the protection gap. Furthermore, this partnership highlights the potential impact of Zurich's return in promoting innovative insurance solutions, and strengthening risk assessment methods within the collaborative efforts facilitated by GEM. The GEM Foundation and Zurich Insurance Group remain dedicated to advancing earthquake resilience, fostering innovation, and promoting sustainable solutions worldwide. About Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer serving people and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. Founded 150 years ago, Zurich is transforming insurance. In addition to providing insurance protection, Zurich is increasingly offering prevention services such as those that promote wellbeing and enhance climate resilience. Reflecting its purpose to ‘create a brighter future together,’ Zurich aspires to be one of the most responsible and impactful businesses in the world. It is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050 and has the highest-possible ESG rating from MSCI. In 2020, Zurich launched the Zurich Forest project to support reforestation and biodiversity restoration in Brazil. The Group has about 60,000 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Further information is available at www.zurich.com . Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation GEM was formed in 2009 as a non-profit foundation in Pavia, Italy, and is funded through a public-private sponsorship with the vision to create a world that is resilient to earthquakes and other natural hazards. GEM is funded by public and private institutions globally, and is advised by many international organisations ( https://www.globalquakemodel.org/partners ). GEM is also recognized by the UN as an NGO, operating under UN guidelines for a humanitarian organisation. Through global partnerships, GEM’s mission is to continue to be the world’s official, most complete source of earthquake risk resources and a globally accepted standard for 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. Helen Crowley and Iwan Stalder No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM Foundation's Governing Board Meeting Charts 2024 Agenda By: ​ ​ Dec 14, 2023 Dec 1, 2023 Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ GEM Foundation's recent Governing Board meeting, held in Pavia, Italy, from November 30 to December 1st, 2023 highlighted key agendas for 2024. The meeting showcased significant updates, including comprehensive Secretariat and partner reports. Notably, the foundation welcomed a new sponsor, Gallagher Re, and celebrated Zurich's return, alongside Geoscience Australia and SERI-Switzerland's renewals, demonstrating continued support. PartnerRe also upgraded its sponsorship from Advisor to Private Governor, emphasising commitment to GEM's mission. During breaks, GEM Governing Board members and staff were given a tour of EUCENTRE's shake tables. Led by Rui Pinho, former GEM Secretary General and current Vice President of EUCENTRE, the tour showcased the purpose-built shake tables designed for simulating earthquakes and their effects on structures, underlining EUCENTRE's commitment to developing and testing innovative solutions aimed at enhancing community and structural resilience against seismic events. Crucial priorities for 2024 were outlined, emphasising GEM’s ongoing initiatives, such as harmonised global earthquake hazard analysis, event response services for humanitarian agencies, time-dependent hazard models, global exposure to liquefaction, enhanced training workshops, advancements in the OpenQuake engine, updated vulnerability frameworks, and comprehensive exposure and risk mapping, also including the environmental impact of earthquakes. GEM extends its gratitude to everyone who participated in the Governing Board meeting, acknowledging their dedication and enthusiasm, which contributed to its success. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News New GEM-USAID Project Forecasting and Communicating Earthquake Hazard and Risk (FORCE) launched By: ​ ​ Dec 6, 2022 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ On the heels of the successful completion of the TREQ project partnership this year, GEM and USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) are embarking on a new project called Forecasting and Communicating Earthquake Hazard and Risk or FORCE . The project aims to strengthen the capacities and understanding to manage and respond to future earthquake risk by: introducing future growth or change into national and global exposure models to enable the quantification of future disaster losses, including those associated with climate change; developing communication and dissemination tools to maximize the uptake of disaster risk information in policy-making bodies; and improving the reliability of earthquake hazard and risk assessment, in particular in regions that lack information. The project has five implementation components aimed at enhancing the reliability and usefulness of the earthquake hazard and risk information produced by GEM and its partners and expanding GEM product applications to multi-hazard risk assessment considering the current and future conditions of the built environment. These components are: Predicting the evolution of the built environment and population Forecasting future disaster risk due to earthquakes Incorporating infrastructure in exposure modeling for risk assessment Modeling earthquake hazard and risk for small communities Advancing communication and dissemination of risk information The 2.5 year-project, will be implemented in collaboration with local scientists and stakeholders in El Salvador, Nepal, and Bhutan (components 1, 2, and 3), as well as small communities in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans (component 4). “USAID is excited to support this project which targets some of the most seismically vulnerable communities in the world. The project activities, which are designed to evaluate current and future impacts of earthquakes, will not only benefit the project sites but other nations with similar needs and gaps as well,” Lindsay Davis, Earthquake Disaster Assistance Team Manager-USAID/BHA. The GEM Foundation has worked with USAID-BHA over the past years on several projects ( SSAHARA , CRAVE , TREQ ) to develop local and national capacities for earthquake hazard and risk assessment, and to communicate results to the broader community. An event held from November 21-25 in Cali, Colombia to present the results of the TREQ project risk assessment for the city, marked the start of FORCE project’s commitment to keep and improve the training component for technical and non-technical audiences that GEM started in the TREQ project. “With the implementation of the FORCE project, USAID-BHA and GEM will be able to continue its work and build from the outcomes of TREQ project, leading a wider community in building local to regional capacity for assessing and reducing risk,” Catalina Yepes, GEM FORCE Project Manager. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News Hazard Information Profiles Launched By: ​ ​ Dec 13, 2021 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ This new supplement to the UNDRR-ISC Hazard Definition & Classification Review – Technical Report provides hazard information profiles (HIPs) for 302 hazards of concern for disaster risk reduction efforts. The report and accompanying HIPs are the result of the collaboration of hundreds of scientists globally. GEM hazard scientists Kendra Johnson, Richard Styron and Robin Gee provided the HIPs for earthquakes and associated or triggered hazards, and John Schneider participated in the working group that produced the 2020 report on the “ Hazard Definition & Classification Review: Technical Review . The supplement is the first ever compilation of definitions of over 300 hazards that are relevant to the 2015 United Nations landmark agreements of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals. This compilation of existing information provides a starting point for bringing together information on hazards that will need to be regularly reviewed and updated by the relevant international institutions in partnership with the scientific community in order to build an information ecosystem better suited to the risks of today and tomorrow. No images found. GALLERY 1/1 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News CRAVE ‘Twin’ Workshops in Colombia and Indonesia By: ​ ​ May 23, 2019 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn CRAVE workshop participants - Indonesia. Photo credit: IT Bandung Bogota, Colombia Members of the USAID-supported project – Collaborative Risk Assessment for Volcanoes and Earthquakes or CRAVE from Colombia participated in a 2-day workshop to discuss volcanic threats and risks. The Servicio Geológico Colombiano (SGC) hosted the workshop from May 15-16, 2019. The workshop was divided into two parts: a morning session focused on earthquake and volcanic hazard and risk in Colombia, where the SGC, the National Unit for Disaster Risk Reduction in Colombia (UNGRD) and the GEM Foundation presented to a general audience the achievements and challenges that the country currently faces. This session was attended by 40 people representing seven governmental institutions (Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Environment, Department of National Planning, National Administrative Department of Statistics, and Instituto Distrital de Gestión de Riesgos y Cambio Climático), and 20 experts from the three main volcanological observatories in Colombia (Manizales, Popayan and Pasto). The second part of the workshop focused on the technical aspect of volcanic hazard and risk assessment using hazard footprints for four volcanic hazard components: lava flow, lahar, pyroclastic density currents, and ash fall. OpenQuake tools for volcanic risk analysis were used for the Ruiz Volcano pilot case and hazard footprints were discussed for five other volcanoes (Galeras, Puracé, Azufral, Cumbal and Chiles). For volcanic threats, participants agreed that the hazard products to be developed must be adapted to the needs of risk assessment in order to arrive at a more realistic view of risk. It was also mentioned that more technical discussion is needed for the probabilistic modelling of other volcanic phenomena e.g. ash fall to establish realistic probabilities or rates of occurrence of such phenomena. The discussion on volcanic risk highlighted the importance of factoring in communication and social risk metrics such as damage to roads and airports and access to clean water, as they can significantly impact the modification/adjustment or formulation of risk management strategies. Bandung, Indonesia In the following week, a similar event took place in Bandung (Indonesia), with support from the Institute of Technology of Bandung (ITB). The event featured a day of presentations and discussion with representatives from the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM), the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works, the National Disaster Management Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana - BNPB), the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika - BMKG), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and the British Geological Survey (BGS). This part of the workshop provided an opportunity to discuss and better understand the current gaps in volcano, earthquake and tsunami hazard and risk assessment in the region and beyond. On the second day of the event, 40 participants employed OpenQuake for the estimation of economic losses and damage due to earthquake and volcano scenarios. The participants highlighted the need for open tools for risk assessment and to share data concerning exposure and disaster loss to improve or calibrate existing models. Data such as exposure and disaster loss are required for monitoring of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. CRAVE is funded by USAID to develop a common framework for the assessment of the impact from earthquakes and volcanoes, with the support of experts from the Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia, United Kingdom and Singapore. No images found. GALLERY Colombia CRAVE workshop Colombia CRAVE workshop Colombia CRAVE workshop Colombia CRAVE workshop 1/19 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM partners with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to map the city of San Jose, Costa Rica for multi-hazard risk assessment By: ​ ​ Jul 2, 2018 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ More than 30 students and interested parties participated in the mapathon workshop facilitated by the University of Costa Rica (UCR) on the 29th of May to help digitise building footprints for 17 districts of the capital of San Jose, Costa Rica using OpenStreetMap tools. “It is fantastic to see so many participants with different background coming up together to do something that will benefit the entire community. These results can help understand the drivers of seismic risk in the city, but are also useful for other hazards such as floods or volcanoes” Vitor Silva, GEM Seismic Risk Coordinator. The event is part of a larger collaboration between the Global Earthquake Model (GEM), the University of Costa Rica and USAID, to support the development of a digital map of San Jose, Costa Rica. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM and Aon to Collaborate on the Development of a New Earthquake Model for Canada By: ​ ​ Mar 6, 2019 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ GEM and Aon’s Impact Forecasting catastrophe model development team have signed a partnership agreement to develop a new earthquake model for Canada based on global collaborative science and the latest publicly available data and information from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). The new model is expected to be available towards the end of 2019. The partnership will help gain deeper understanding of earthquake risk in Canada. The new model will allow insurance underwriters to more accurate pricing of their insurance products as well as effectively manage their portfolios. Consumers will also benefit because the model is based on openly available data and assumptions that are fully transparent to everyone. The model will be implemented in Impact Forecasting’s risk modeling platform – ELEMENTS – as well as Oasis-based platforms. Impact Forecasting will support the use of the model in the Canadian market, which includes deployment, training and ongoing support. “GEM and Aon both value the importance of transparent and open hazard and risk modeling. We believe that this approach is key to better technical understanding of risk, and directly supports GEM’s initiative to promote the sharing of high quality open risk information globally,” said John Schneider, GEM Secretary General. “We have chosen to partner with GEM because of its global reputation for open and high-quality science and engineering-based risk modelling, combined with their close collaboration with Natural Resources Canada. In addition we are excited to bring enhanced understanding of this earthquake risk to the insurance industry with a goal of ultimately increasing resilience across Canada,” added Adam Podlaha, Head of Aon’s Impact Forecasting team. The model is being developed in phases starting with earthquake shaking including liquefaction, tsunami and other secondary perils. Tsunami modeling will be implemented in collaboration with University College London (UCL). The proposed modeling solution from Impact Forecasting will be based on GEM’s earthquake risk model for Canada, developed in collaboration with NRCan, which officially joined GEM as a public sponsor last year. NRCan leads a consortium of Canadian organizations including Public Safety Canada, Insurance Bureau of Canada, Defence Research and Development Canada, as well as academic and planning professionals. Phil Hill, Director, Geological Survey of Canada-Pacific (NRCan), and GEM Governing Board member for Canada, commented, “The GEM-IF Canada earthquake risk model is an important step in making credible and open disaster risk information available and accessible in Canada.” No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News GEM releases a new toolkit, an open‑source platform for vulnerability analysis By: ​ ​ Aug 30, 2021 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ GEM recently released a new toolkit for vulnerability analysis, an open‑source platform compatible with commonly used earthquake engineering software such as OpenQuake and OpenSees. Implemented in the Python programming language, it is freely accessible through a public GitHub repository. The toolkit which comes with a graphical user interface (GUI), is divided into seven modules designed to guide users through the different stages of analytical vulnerability modelling from the selection of ground motion records to the validation and verification of the models. A unique feature of the toolkit is the integration in a single environment of all phases of seismic vulnerability assessment, including critical issues in vulnerability modelling related with the propagation of sources of uncertainty, verification of the resulting functions through risk metrics, and assessment of the performance of the chosen intensity measures in terms of sufficiency and efficiency. Vulnerability functions describe the expected loss for a given ground shaking intensity level and are an essential component in probabilistic seismic risk assessment. However, these functions are usually developed using scripts created by the authors, which in the vast majority of the cases are not released along with the associated fragility and vulnerability functions. This lack of transparency can prevent users from fully comprehending the modelling options and assumptions involved in the development of the models, which could be fundamental in understanding the range of applicability of the results. Luis Martins, GEM’s principal author and developer of the toolkit said that “It is thus important to improve the transparency in vulnerability modelling, through the employment of open-source tools whose methodologies and assumptions can be reviewed, and even adapted, by the users.” “The toolkit and are intended to provide earthquake engineers with a comprehensive platform to develop vulnerability models, while allowing a wide flexibility in terms of seismic demand, structural capacity, damage criteria and damage-to-loss conversion,” Luis added. The paper provides a description of the capabilities of both the source code and the GUI. The complete toolkit, including source code and GUI, is currently hosted publicly at: No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

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News December 2020 Governing Board meeting highlights By: ​ ​ Jan 23, 2021 ​ Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn ​ More than 60 individuals were in attendance in the virtual meeting held on November 27, 2020 – Secretariat reporting, and December 3-4, 2020 – core meeting. The attendees included almost all of the voting members, non-voting members, associate members, advisory board, guests and GEM Secretariat. Sponsor feedback and priorities Representatives from sponsors and partners AIR, Eucentre, PartnerRe, MunichRe, Guy Carpenter, SwissRe, Italy-DPC, USAID, Nepal-NSET, Japan-NIED and TEM gave short presentations on their priorities and feedback mainly focusing on technical support for hazard and risk modelling tasks. The Secretariat is set to incorporate the comprehensive sponsor input into the 2021 work plan and strategy development. Products and services In terms of products and services, discussions focused on the release of the social vulnerability and resilience maps, the release of the models from the global mosaic, and the release of commercial models on Nasdaq and Touchstone platforms. The Secretariat will follow up on the release of social vulnerability and resilience (SVR) maps with a virtual workshop to develop collaboration networks and potential funding for current and future SVR work. User demand for GEM products will be assessed in order to guide further development and promotion, and a schedule to release the remaining hazard and risk models from global mosaic is set for 25 January. A planning workshop will be held to assess the need and approach for financial risk model development is scheduled for 4-5 and 11 February 2021. Long term strategy The final session of the meeting focused on long-term strategy where the discussion focused on sponsor and partner perspectives on earthquake model development, inclusion of other perils and organizational sustainability. The Secretariat will convene a strategy task force to develop the long-term GEM strategy in the second quarter of 2021. New representatives The Secretariat presented the following new Sponsors and representatives, and were subsequently approved by the Board: new voting representative for Taiwan Earthquake Model (TEM), Bruce Shyu of NTU, Taiwan; new voting representative for New Zealand, Gary Wilson of GNS; new Small Business (Startup) Advisor Sponsor SafeHub with Andy Thompson as non-voting representative; and renewed sponsorship of Partner Re as Advisor Sponsor with Paul Della-Marta as non-voting representative. No images found. GALLERY 1/1 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS