News Hands-on with the OpenQuake engine at the 4th GEM Annual Risk Workshop By: Jul 2, 2018 Share Facebook LinkedIn From November 20th to 22nd, the GEM Foundation hosted the fourth edition of the Risk Workshop. The annual event brings together GEM partners from both the private and public sectors around the world to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate new features and improvements on the OpenQuake suite of tools, as well as the latest developments in the hazard and risk models and datasets. This year, the workshop had the following specific goals: Explore GEM's risk datasets, models and tools Present GEM’s Risk Modeler’s Toolkit to derive fragility and vulnerability models Prepare exposure and vulnerability models for the OpenQuake-engine using the Input Preparation Toolkit (https://platform.openquake.org/ipt/) Perform seismic risk analysis and scenario loss estimations using the OpenQuake-engine Contribute to GEM’s Global Risk Modeling effort The event featured presentations from the GEM team, and several scenario risk calculations using the OpenQuake engine. The exercises allowed participants to experiment first hand how the engine works with the GEM Risk Team verifying and checking the results. Participants from ARUP (United Kingdom) demonstrated how some of the GEM tools were employed in the assessment of earthquake risk in Kyrgyzstan as part of a World Bank project. The partners from NSET (Nepal) presented how Nepal is recovering from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, and preparing other towns for future events by collecting detailed information regarding the built up environment. Aspen Re (Switzerland/UK) shared how GEM tools and models can be used to better understand the drivers of uncertainty in CAT modeling. Finally, Dr. Christopher Burton from Auburn University (USA) highlighted the need to go beyond the physical risk, and to incorporate the social aspects in the evaluation of earthquake threat. The workshop also had the participation of other experts from ETH, INGV, EUCENTRE, Zurich, CICESE, SCOR, AXA, PartnerRe, OYO, Pacific Disaster Center and NKUA. On the last day the participants enjoyed a guided tour of the EUCENTRE Foundation laboratories led by Dr. Filippo Dacarro, Lab Director. The tour included a visit to the old and new shake table, inaugurated in September 2017. The outcomes of the training were positive: for instance, Suman Pradhan and Kirty Tiwari from NSET, Nepal, mentioned the importance of the GEM Taxonomy for their work, and complimented the GEM Staff for the success of the event. They committed to returning to Nepal and train their colleagues on how to use OpenQuake. Katherine Coates, from ARUP, affirmed the discussions and presentations were excellent, and appreciated the hands-on practice and the activities offered by GEM. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News GEM’s updated Africa Exposure model is now available! By: Dec 13, 2021 Share Facebook LinkedIn The Africa Exposure Model covering northern, western, sub-Saharan and South Africa was first released in May 2019 as part of the Africa Earthquake Model, a mosaic of regional models which underpins the African portion of GEM’s global maps released in December 2018 . The update features major revision of residential, commercial, and industrial exposure across the continent; detailed review of national and regional statistics on construction materials and costs; spatial disaggregation of exposure to an evenly spaced grid of 144 arcseconds; and projection of exposure for future years (5-year increments from 2020 until 2050). The exposure model was developed for the African continent using a consistent approach across all countries. The model uses national statistics at the subnational level, and further disaggregates the exposure based on population distribution to a resolution of 144 arcseconds. Urban and rural buildings are disaggregated in different areas based on regional urban cluster data. The exposure was also projected for multiple years until 2050 considering both population growth and urban growth in anticipation of the significant population growth and rate of urbanization throughout much of Africa, making the projection of exposure to future decades critical. Currently, the vulnerability of Africa’s built environment remains relatively high, mainly because a large proportion of buildings are constructed using unreinforced masonry and adobe bricks, which are highly vulnerable to damage from ground shaking. The results of this updated exposure model can be used by risk managers, urban planners, emergency responders and humanitarian agencies for input to a wide range of disaster risk mitigation or reduction activities including monitoring of the Sendai Framework indicators. Results summary (refer to the image gallery) - Distribution of the main construction materials across Africa - Expected population increase in major regions in the world - Top 5 Countries by Building Count Access the paper for free @sciencedirect until March 25: https://bit.ly/3B1VpEL Download the following models at: Eastern Africa Exposure Northern Africa Exposure Western Africa Exposure Southern Africa Exposure Central Africa Exposure No images found. GALLERY 1/7 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News RISE Project Annual Conference By: Jun 6, 2022 Share Facebook LinkedIn GEM represented by John Schneider participated in the eal-time earthquake rIsk reduction for a reSilient Europe or RISE annual project conference from May 11th - 13th in Florence, Italy. RISE is a 3-year project coordinated by ETH Zurich and financed by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission involving 19 organisations from across Europe and five international partners. The conference was the first in-person conference most participants had attended in more than two years. Coincidentally, during the conference dinner on a 5th-floor rooftop, participants experienced ground shaking from a M3.7 earthquake with an epicentre 12 km from Florence. The short, sharp shake was a clear reminder of the importance of developing earthquake alerts and protocols for response, including for small earthquakes. Results of the research will feed into improved earthquake monitoring, alerts, short-term forecasting and communication protocols John noted that “GEM’s Openquake Engine and databases are being used extensively by project participants across many work packages, and demonstrate how GEM’s tools have become fundamental to European scientists and engineers for the development of earthquake scenarios and in forecasting or estimating earthquake impacts.” No images found. GALLERY RISE annual conference 2022 Florence RISE conference event dinner location vs earthquake epicentre on May 12th (star) RISE annual conference 2022 Florence RISE conference event dinner location vs earthquake epicentre on May 12th (star) 1/1 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News GEM renews its commitment to help achieve the goals of the Sendai Framework by 2030 By: Jul 31, 2019 Share Facebook LinkedIn The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation has renewed its Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitment (VC) to increase earthquake risk understanding and resilience globally. Under the Sendai Framework VC, GEM is committed to continue developing, communicating and facilitating the use of earthquake hazard, risk and social vulnerability tools and information to contribute to the achievement of the four priorities of action of the UNDRR’s Sendai Framework by 2030 . The Voluntary Commitments initiative, was developed in response to the UN General Assembly resolution 68/211 (2013) and launched in the lead-up to the World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in March 2015 to support the development of partnerships at all levels to implement the Sendai Framework. GEM made its first commitment during the WCDRR in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. UNDRR has established an online platform as a mechanism to mobilize, monitor and take stock of commitments from multi-stakeholders for the implementation of the Sendai Framework until 2030. Since its launch in December 2018, a number of stakeholders have already showcased their efforts to build resilient societies by publishing and monitoring Voluntary Commitments (VCs) in support of the implementation of the Sendai Framework through the SFVC online platform. To learn more on how to participate in this initiative, visit https://sendaicommitments.unisdr.org . No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News METEOR Project: successful completion produced useful, scientifically sound, accessible and cost-efficient data and protocols By: Jun 3, 2021 Share Facebook LinkedIn Photo credit: METEOR Project After three years, the METEOR project, a consortium led by the British Geological Survey, has come to a successful conclusion, delivering all the expected outputs for pilot countries Nepal and Tanzania. The project aimed to formulate an innovative methodology of creating quality data and models that can be used to improve decision-making in disaster risk management (DRM) through the use of earth observation or EO-based imagery to identify development patterns throughout a country. The results include EO-based exposure data for 47 ODA countries ; protocols and standards for developing locally calibrated exposure data (tested and validated in Nepal and Tanzania); and capacity development of core stakeholders. These results are expected to promote welfare and economic development in the pilot and 47 ODA countries, and demonstrate the applicability of the techniques elsewhere. For planning, the data and protocols developed can help municipalities to identify areas with high landslide susceptibility, and the corresponding risk to buildings located in those areas. In emergency response, such as after an earthquake, municipalities can identify the following: low hazard areas where people can be moved to safety, where the biggest impacts are likely to be and where to focus land-use planning and building retrofitting efforts. GEM contributions GEM, a member of the consortium, contributed to two work packages: structural vulnerability assessment and propagation of uncertainty to disaster risk estimates for multiple perils including earthquakes, landslides, floods, and volcanoes; and knowledge sharing and dissemination of project outputs and protocols through the use of web portals and training workshops with local partners. In Tanzania, GEM, HOT, and DMD co-led an earthquake scenario demonstration and walkthrough workshops. A hypothetical M7.0 earthquake offshore Dar es Salaam was modelled, investigating the potential impacts of the 2020 M6.0 earthquake near Dar es Salaam had it been stronger. Using these impact estimates, stakeholders organized into 3 separate groups to determine their ministry's role in response, discuss how certain challenges to response might be overcome, and identify data that could be helpful to respond. In Nepal, GEM led workshop sessions on seismic hazards and risk, which included an overview of the theory and methodology pertaining to seismic hazard assessment (both scenario-based and probabilistic), exposure considerations specific to earthquake hazards, vulnerability modelling, and risk analysis and metrics. GEM also assisted project partners that are leading other work packages, including the construction of improved building vulnerability models for buildings with some retrofit or other seismic intervention. This work informed a cost-benefit analysis that can be used to indicate the return-on-investment of seismic mitigation strategies. METEOR Partners Other members of the consortium included Fathom (flood hazard model), Oxford Policy Management (OPM) (project monitoring and management), ImageCat (EO-based data for exposure development, methods and protocols, and training), The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) (exposure data in Kathmandu and Dar es Salaam for validation and calibration of building patterns from EO-based imagery), National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) in Nepal,and the Disaster Management Department (DMD) of the Prime Minister’s Office of Tanzania - key to the co-development of the country datasets. Important links: The training portal on the METEOR website (for Nepal and Tanzania) The maps portal on the METEOR website (exposure and hazard data) Nepal BIPAD portal containing METEOR data/maps (the official DRR data portal of Nepal) Related links: HOT Tanzania Workshop article HOT Field data in Kathmandu NASA Applied Sciences No images found. GALLERY 1/0 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News GEM METEOR project releases exposure datasets for more than 40 countries By: Nov 25, 2020 Share Facebook LinkedIn The METEOR Project celebrated UNDRR’s recent International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction by releasing exposure data for 44 Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipient countries, including the corresponding interactive maps. The objective of the project is to formulate an innovative methodology of creating exposure data through the use of Earth Observation (EO)-based imagery to identify development patterns throughout a country. The METEOR protocols and standards for combining traditional land use interpretation methods with EO and in-field building characteristics to capture the distribution of building types have been pilot tested in Nepal and Tanzania. Specifically, the project aims to deliver exposure data for 47 of the least developed ODA countries, ; to create hazard footprints for the pilot countries Nepal and Tanzania; to create open protocols showing how to collect data and apply techniques in other countries; and to build capacity of local stakeholders to apply data and assess hazard exposure. The project is expected to benefit a wide spectrum of stakeholders such as governments, NGOs, affected communities and businesses, seeking to bolster resilience and growth. To download the data visit, . To view interactive maps of the data, visit . No images found. GALLERY 1/3 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News An online OpenQuake Training course for beginners By: Jun 28, 2023 Share Facebook LinkedIn The FORCE project recently conducted an online OpenQuake Training course tailored for beginners seeking to enhance their understanding of earthquake risk assessment. The training, which spanned from March 20 to 27 and April 17 to 24, comprised modules that delved into various aspects of earthquake scenarios, such as exploring and preparing the necessary input files, as well as conducting probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) and event-based risk analysis using the OpenQuake engine. The course was crafted to accommodate participants from diverse backgrounds and expertise levels, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of earthquake risk assessment and familiarize attendees with the fundamental features of the OpenQuake engine. Divided into four sessions, each lasting three hours, the training covered essential concepts related to earthquake hazard and risk assessment using the OpenQuake engine. To supplement the course material, Module I, titled OQ Introduction, was made available as a self-learning module on the training.openquake.org platform. This additional resource allowed participants to gain preliminary knowledge and ensure a solid foundation before delving into the subsequent modules. The OpenQuake Training provided an invaluable opportunity for beginners to acquire new skills and insights in the field of earthquake risk assessment. By equipping participants with the necessary tools and knowledge, the course aimed to empower them to contribute effectively to earthquake resilience and disaster mitigation efforts. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News Estimating fault slip rates in the Cascadia region of North America using joint geologic-geodetic block modeling By: Jun 3, 2021 Share Facebook LinkedIn Richard Styron, GEM hazard team, was recently invited to present at the Seismological Society of America (SSA) Conference held in April on the ongoing collaborative research between GEM, Natural Resources Canada, and other scientists to study earthquake faults in the northwestern US and western Canada. The authors of the conference paper were Richard Styron, Tiegan Hobbs (Natural Resources Canada), Zach Lifton (Idaho Geological Survey), Nick Harrichhausen (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Murray Journeay (Natural Resources Canada). The project uses a software program developed by Richard called Oiler , that estimates the long-term movement of faults and corresponding production of earthquakes. Oiler uses geodetic (mostly global positioning system or GPS) measurements of the movement of tectonic plates, as well as geologic data such as geologic mapping and paleoseismic studies, to solve for the slip rate (and therefore earthquake production rate) of all faults within a fault network. For this project, the researchers used existing fault data augmented with some new mapping in the US, and completely new mapping of possibly-active faulting in Canada, to build the fault network. Over the next year or two, the researchers hope to be able to incorporate all of this data into a comprehensive database of seismically active faults in order to evaluate the earthquake potential of previously-unstudied faults in western Canada and the northwestern US. Watch Richard’s SSA presentation here. [ VIDEO LINK ] About #SSA2021 Held on 19–23 April 2021, the virtual SSA Annual Meeting featured more than 750 technical presentations, including sessions co-sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Seismological Commission and the Seismological Society of China. For more about SSA, visit https://www.seismosoc.org/ . No images found. GALLERY 1/0 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News Using the lessons from COVID19: Getting ready for earthquakes in the future By: May 21, 2020 Share Facebook LinkedIn Even though the COVID19 pandemic is not over yet, this catastrophic event has already taught us a lot; so, we tried to reflect on the lessons that could be drawn and carried into the future to reduce earthquake risk. Recently, GEM has completed a short social media campaign on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 that can be used in dealing with future earthquake risk. In case you missed it, here they are: 1) There is a need to strengthen open and transparent cooperation among the scientific community, businesses and political leaders. Especially in our field of work, dealing with an earthquake disaster that encompasses nations and regions, implementing science-based solutions will need economic and political will. 2) There is a need to develop a stronger system that can quickly translate scientific knowledge into practical and workable mitigation and emergency response strategy at the local and community level. 3) There is a need for governments and institutions to provide the population with simple, clear and understandable information and to take active actions against fake news and misinformation. 4) There is a need to reorganize, restructure, refocus, and ‘retrofit’, so to speak, our global institutions to become more efficient and readier in dealing with future risks such as earthquakes, pandemics and any disaster that can endanger human lives. 5) There is a need to urgently finance research and development before the next global crisis occurs. Investing in scientific research and development plays a critical role in addressing the challenges in understanding, assessing and responding to the time-dependent nature of disaster risk. Moreover, sustained preparedness and awareness are pivotal for reducing risk from natural hazard events and for ensuring that people can act on warning in timely and appropriate ways. However, in order to achieve them, significant financial, human and material resources are needed at the national, regional and international levels before, during and after disasters. To sum it all up, before the next global disaster or crisis occurs, greater efforts are still needed in order to clearly communicate: science-based disaster risk assessments, socio-economic impacts, evaluations of mechanisms for risk reduction, and prescriptive options for translating scientific findings into practice. Here at GEM we will always work to do our part and give our contribution with openness, collaboration, commitment to science and a special focus on serving the public good. No images found. GALLERY 1/5 Gallery VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX

News Round up of GEM activities and participation in recent events (July - August) By: Jul 2, 2018 Share Facebook LinkedIn During the last two months, GEM participated in various meetings across the globe. Here’s a list of GEM’s participation in some notable gatherings: GEM meets Community Safety Branch - Geoscience Australia in Canberra (July 25) GEM represented by John Schneider met with Geoscience Australia (GA) Community Safety Branch to discuss issues associated with earthquake hazard and risk modeling and to explore areas of mutual interest for potential collaboration. GA is currently completing a new national earthquake hazard model for Australia and has provided assistance to the Government of Indonesia in developing a new national earthquake hazard model for Indonesia using OpenQuake. John also travelled to Perth Australia with Mark Edwards and Maruf Rahman to meet Western Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Services together with lifeline system (transportation, electric power and water distribution) providers as part of a new collaborative project on earthquake vulnerability and risk to lifelines in Western Australia. GEM participates in US earthquake risk reduction discussion in London (July 7) GEM represented by Vitor Silva participates in discussion panel on earthquake risk model for the United States at Lloyds of London with RMS, AIR Worldwide, EPICentre UCL, Imperial College and Aon Benfield. The meeting held on July 7 in London was attended by around 160 participants. The panel discussion provided an opportunity for GEM to highlight the work recently completed by GEM, and funded by the California Seismic Safety Commission, on GEM’s OpenQuake risk model for the United States, which includes latest earthquake hazard model for California (UCERF3) as part of the USGS 2014 national hazard model. GEM meets FM Global in Boston (July 24) In Boston, USA GEM, represented by Marco Pagani, meets with FM Global to discuss global hazard modelling and the OpenQuake engine. The focus of the discussions was on FM Global’s contribution to the development of a global earthquake fault database. GEM at earthquake symposium in Lenzburg, Switzerland (5-7 September) Marco Pagani delivered an invited presentation on earthquake hazard modeling in Europe at the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment Workshop in Lenzburg, Switzerland. The workshop was convened by GEM sponsor ETH to review the state of the art and define future directions for earthquake hazard research in Europe. The workshop was attended by 150 leading experts on Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) from around the globe. GEM at OASIS Modelling Conference in London (4-5 September) John Schneider was a guest at the first annual conference of the OASIS Loss Modellng Framework. OASIS is a consortium of organisations with common interests in developing and applying natural catastrophe risk models to insurance risk issues. About 200 model developers, users and risk management professionals attended the conference. GEM global databases and OpenQuake modeling tools featured prominently in presentations and discussions of earthquake risk modeling developments and applications. Many participants expressed interest in having GEM risk models accessible through the OASIS platform. No images found. GALLERY 1/0 VIDEO RELATED CONTENTS FACT BOX