News New tech could help engineers monitor how buildings withstand human-induced tremors: European Geosciences Union (EGU) Conference 2018 By: Jun 27, 2018 Share Facebook LinkedIn GEM’s Hazard Scientist, Kendra Johnson recently participated in the EGU General Assembly that took place in Vienna, Austria last April. The event drew more than 15,000 participants from 106 countries and featured 4,776 oral, 11,128 poster, and 1,419 PICO presentations as well as more than 600 unique scientific sessions together with 68 short courses and 294 side events. GEM participates in this yearly event to keep abreast of the latest development and advancements in European geoscience. This year, EGU shares an interesting technology that uses seismometers to record how humans make cities shake. The project, initiated by Jordi Diaz and colleagues at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera in Barcelona, Spain first began as an outreach campaign to teach the general public about seismometers. (source: Geolog Seismicity of Life article written by Olivia Trani) After successfully picking up the seismic signals of major football games and rock concerts, Diaz and his colleagues are now exploring other applications such as monitoring how buildings withstand human-induced tremors and tracking traffic. “This new field of urban seismology aims to detect the vibrations caused by road traffic, subway trains, and even cultural activities,” reports EGU General Assembly Press Assistant Tim Middleton on GeoLog. (source: Geolog Seismicity of Life article written by Olivia Trani) The next EGU General Assembly is scheduled from 7-12 April 2019, Vienna, Austria. The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News Vitor Silva et al. receive the 2020 Outstanding Paper Award for Development of a Global Seismic Risk Model from Earthquake Engineering Research Institute By: Dec 13, 2021 Share Facebook LinkedIn The paper which describes the Global Earthquake Hazard and Risk maps released by GEM in December 2018, was a result of a long and extensive collaboration with local, national, regional and international institutions worldwide. Download link: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F8755293019899953 Authors: Vitor Silva, Desmond Amo-Oduro, Alejandro Calderon Carpio, Catarina Costa, Jamal Dabbeek, Venetia Despotaki, Luis Martins, Marco Pagani, Anirudh Rao, Michele Simionato, Daniele Viganò, Catalina Yepes Estrada, Ana Beatriz Acevedo, Helen Crowley, Nick Horspool, Kishor Jaiswal, Murray Journeay, Massimiliano Pittore. EERI official announcement: https://www.eeri.org/about-eeri/news/11477-vitor-silva-et-al-receive-2020-outstanding-paper-award-for-development-of-a-global-seismic-risk-model David Wald, Editor-in-Chief, Earthquake Spectra: “This is a wonderful recognition for GEM as a milestone - the global risk model was just a vision—an aspiration—when GEM started. Now it's a reality, that is well summarized by this paper. GEM has really accomplished great things, and this recognition is so well deserved. I think this is going to be a highly cited paper. So for the journal, this is a great paper to have and we're proud to publish it. I congratulate all of you.” EERI citation for the award: The Development of a Global Seismic Risk Model was a mammoth undertaking that involved hundreds of people and for the first time presented a detailed view of seismic risk at the global scale. For some developing countries, this was the first time that a seismic risk map was produced, and the associated country profiles are being used by the local authorities. The development and delivery of a modern global seismic risk model required unprecedented technical, algorithmic, coding, databasing, and collaborative research and development - all well documented by Silva et al. Noting its importance, all three reviewers recommended this seminal paper for an award. Vitor Silva, lead author and GEM Risk Team Coordinator: “On behalf of all the co-authors, I would like to thank all our partners and collaborators for your invaluable contributions. Without your support, this would not have been possible. The collaboration across public, private and academic sectors worldwide has been truly exceptional. We share this award and honor with you.” John Schneider, GEM Secretary General: “It has been more than a decade now since GEM started this initiative. Hundreds of collaborators from diverse organizations around the world worked together for many years to produce the global maps. This award from EERI is another testament to the impact of GEM’s work in the global earthquake hazard and risk assessment space.” This paper was released as a part of the 2020 Earthquake Spectra Special Issue titled GEM's 2018 global hazard and risk models. “Although the paper was released only last year, it has already garnered 44 citations and 1,800 views on the Earthquake Spectra SAGE portal.” - David Wald on the paper’s online performance to date. For more information about the Outstanding Paper Award, visit the EERI awards page . No images found. GALLERY 1/1 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News Will measuring losses to natural disasters really tell us about changes in risk? By: Jul 2, 2018 Share Facebook LinkedIn Two years ago, in March 2015, representatives of 187 countries met in Sendai, Japan to agree to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction for the period 2015 to 2030. Last month, on February 2nd, the UN General Assembly approved seven global targets to reduce risk from natural disasters, and agreed to a set of indicators for measuring global progress toward these targets. The indicators for Targets A, B, and C aim to reduce by 2030 mortality, affected people, and economic loss, respectively. The targets will be to reduce impacts in a relative sense, so that mortality and affected people will be measured per 100,000 population; and economic loss will be measured in relation to gross domestic product. Global Target D aims to reduce risk to critical infrastructure, including health and educational facilities. In the article “How can the world reduce losses for the poor?” Robert Glasser, UNISDR, states that the measurement of the indicators introduces a “major degree of accountability” for the seven global targets, but will the proposed measurement of disaster losses actually be useful for monitoring changes in risk? The answer is yes and no. Why the Sendai indicators are not enoughWhile measuring these indicators will be quite useful, it is highly unlikely that this monitoring process alone will allow the world to accurately measure the actual reduction in risk, particularly for rare, high impact events, such as major earthquakes, cyclones and volcanic eruptions. For instance, Munich Re estimates that worldwide the average annual deaths for the past ten years from all natural disasters was about 60,000 people, while last year accounted for only 8,600 deaths. Yet, in the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami, more than 230,000 people died in a single event. With such a high variation in annual losses at the global scale, there is little chance that monitoring such variation alone will give us an accurate picture of risk at a global scale, and certainly not at a national or urban scale. An alternative way of more accurately measuring riskBy the end of 2018, GEM will have produced a global earthquake risk model, which will provide a baseline at national level for earthquake hazard and risk globally. Moreover, the model and all of the tools and data underlying the model will be available openly, freely and transparently for the public good. This information can and should be used to monitor risk. Since risk is a function of hazard, vulnerability and exposure, the trends in these variables measured over time will allow us to determine the extent to which we are meeting the global targets for risk reduction. Moreover, this will be possible not only at the global level, but also at the national and even urban/local levels. Changes in exposure will be necessary to determine how the distribution of population, assets and investments are evolving spatially and temporally. Similarly, measuring vulnerability will be critical to understand how social, physical and economic factors are evolving and contributing to changing risk. Changes in the physical risk to schools, hospitals and other vulnerable building types can be estimated at local to global levels by collecting exposure and vulnerability information and tracking retrofits and new construction over time. One approach would be to collect information on the ratios of numbers of buildings constructed above and below building code standards, such as for unreinforced masonry, the building class most vulnerable to earthquake damage and casualties. Trends could be tracked to estimate changes in risk in terms of potential physical and economic loss. Finally, disaster mitigation could be incentivized by providing tools to demonstrate the cost-benefits of retrofitting or replacing these and other vulnerable buildings in high-risk areas. Thus, the information in risk models can be used to both track changes in risk as well as to identify cost-effective opportunities for risk mitigation and reduction activities. GEM’s contribution to disaster risk reductionGEM is very well placed to assist in the process of informing the recently agreed Sendai targets by working with countries to develop national earthquake hazard models, by assisting in collecting and analyzing vulnerability and exposure data, and by combining this information into a risk modeling and monitoring framework at national and urban levels. This would be accomplished by further developing partnerships in developing countries to increase their capacity to assess and manage earthquake risks. GEM is also developing tools that can be used in both developing and developed countries to assess the costs and benefits of mitigating and/or reducing these risks. With continued investment over time, these and other risk models, tools and data can be further developed to provide much needed support to achieving the goals of the Sendai Framework. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

News VMTK Webinar Showcases Open-Source Tools for Earthquake Engineers By: Jun 28, 2023 Share Facebook LinkedIn The recording and presentations are available at https://www.globalquakemodel.org/vmtk-webinar-2023 Earthquake engineers and vulnerability modellers had the opportunity to explore the innovative capabilities of the Vulnerability Modellers' Toolkit (VMTK) in a joint webinar presented by the EFEHR (European Facility for Earthquake Hazard and Risk) and GEM (Global Earthquake Model) Foundation. The webinar, held on April 20th, aimed to introduce participants to the VMTK software, provide insights into its functionalities, showcase real-life applications, and highlight GEM's future plans for vulnerability modelling. The VMTK is a suite of open-source tools designed to offer earthquake engineers a comprehensive platform for developing fragility and vulnerability models. It provides flexibility in terms of seismic demand, structural capacity, damage criteria, and damage-to-loss conversion. During the webinar, attendees were given an overview of the VMTK's scope and main features, including its user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). Additionally, they received guidance on installing the software on both Mac and Windows operating systems. The webinar was divided into two sessions to cater to participants with different levels of familiarity with the VMTK. The Basic Users Session began with an introduction to GEM's VMTK by Helen Crowley from EUCENTRE. She outlined the scope of the toolkit and its main features, emphasizing its usability for engineers. Following this, Martina Caruso from the GEM Foundation presented an example application of the VMTK, showcasing its practicality and real-life relevance. The Advanced Users Session, led by Luis Martins from the GEM Foundation, offered a deeper dive into the VMTK's capabilities. Luis took participants on a tour of the VMTK GitHub repository, providing insights into the codebase and addressing questions from the audience. The webinar concluded with a wrap-up session led by Vitor Silva from the GEM Foundation, where he shared GEM's future plans for vulnerability modelling. Participants had the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the roadmap of this rapidly developing field. The VMTK webinar proved to be a valuable resource for earthquake engineers and vulnerability modellers, equipping them with knowledge of a versatile open-source toolkit. As the field continues to evolve, the VMTK promises to be an essential asset for professionals involved in assessing and mitigating earthquake risks. Visit the event page to watch the recording and download the presentations: https://www.globalquakemodel.org/vmtk-webinar-2023 No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS

Publications Africa Earthquake Model: brochure Share Facebook LinkedIn Download 2019 | Brochure The Africa Earthquake Hazard and Risk model underpin the African portion of GEM’s global maps released in December 2018. The Africa Model is composed of North Africa, West Africa, Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa regional models, developed in collaboration with various African public and private institutions, national governments, and individual experts using the OpenQuake engine.

Publications Current Challenges and Future Trends in Analytical Fragility and Vulnerability Modeling Share Facebook LinkedIn Download 2019 | Peer-reviewed The lack of empirical data regarding earthquake damage or losses has propelled the development of dozens of analytical methodologies for the derivation of fragility and vulnerability functions. Each method will naturally have its strengths and weaknesses, which will consequently affect the associated risk estimates. With the purpose of sharing knowledge on vulnerability modeling, identifying shortcomings in the existing methods, and recommending improvements to the current practice, a group of vulnerability experts met in Pavia (Italy) in April 2017. Critical topics related to the selection of ground motion records, modeling of complex real structures through simplified approaches, propagation of aleatory and epistemic uncertainties, and validation of vulnerability results were discussed, and suggestions were proposed to improve the reliability and accuracy in vulnerability modeling.

Publications Earthquake-induced liquefaction and landslides in Cali, Colombia Share Facebook LinkedIn Download 2022 | Report Earthquake-induced landslides and liquefaction are important secondary earthquake perils that can cause substantial damage to the built environment in addition to direct damage caused by seismic ground shaking. In spite of their impacts, they are not regularly included in probabilistic seismic hazard and risk analysis (PSHRA), in part because they have not been incorporated in most PSHRA frameworks such as GEM’s OpenQuake Engine. As part of the TREQ project, existing landslide and liquefaction models were implemented within the OpenQuake Engine, and have been made available for both probabilistic and deterministic (scenario) analyses. In this study we present the methodological approach we used to implement these models using the city of Cali as the case study. Regarding coseismic landslides, found that the probability of coseismic landslides within the city limits of Cali is extremely small, although it is likely higher in the adjacent mountain regions. For liquefaction analysis, we tested the models on seismic scenarios selected by the USGS through a hazard disaggregation process. The risk metrics obtained suggest that, in the case of liquefaction, the models make an appropriate prediction of the spatial distribution of damage and loss. However,in terms of the absolute number of damaged structures, estimates for both, landslide and liquefaction risk, are inconsistent with the level of damage and loss obtained from the ground shaking. Hence, we concluded that the existing methodologies do not perform satisfactorily in urban risk applications.

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News OpenQuake Engine v3.26 By: Jul 15, 2026 Jul 15, 2026 Share Facebook LinkedIn Version 3.26 of the OpenQuake Engine brings faster calculations, lower memory requirements and broader modelling capabilities. Key updates include support for GEM’s 2026 global models, improved rupture sampling, major speed gains for selected scenario calculations and a new way to estimate embodied carbon losses from earthquakes. The release also strengthens handling of large models, improves export tools and fixes issues affecting hazard and risk calculations. Users who do not need the latest models may continue using the long-term support release. Release details, downloads and upgrade guidance Version 3.26 is the culmination of 4 months of work involving over 320 pull requests. It is the minimum version required to run the 2026 release of Global Hazard and Risk Models. Users not needing the latest models may want to stay with the LTS release, currently at version 3.23.4. The complete set of changes is listed in the changelog here A summary of the new features and optimizations is given here Download links You can install on all supported platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS) by using the universal installer here Windows user may prefer the native installer here The OpenQuake engine manual is available here Before installing the new release you should uninstall the previous release, if you have one. As always, before upgrading, you should export any output of interests, since exporting an output computed with an older version of the engine may raise an error. Moreover, it is generally not possible to run a risk calculation starting from a hazard computed with an older version. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS