The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation will present the global earthquake hazard and risk maps on December 5th, 2018 in Pavia, Italy aimed to enhance disaster risk reduction strategies worldwide.
 
Hundreds of collaborators from public, private, and academic organizations around the world worked together for many years to produce the global maps, which are expected to set a new benchmark for global earthquake hazard and risk assessment.
 
Laurent Mougeot MCIP PPS represented the Canadian Institute of Planners as a member of the steering committee that guides GEM activities in Canada. Other members include Natural Resources Canada, Defence Research and Development Canada, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Public Safety Canada, and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.
 
The earthquake hazard map, a mosaic of more than 30 national and regional models, is the first major global effort of its kind since the release of Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program  (GSHAP) in 1999. The new map is derived from much more detailed information on active faults and ground shaking from past earthquakes, as well as information from local experts.
 
The earthquake risk map, comprised of national and regional exposure and vulnerability models, is the most comprehensive global assessment of earthquake risk to date. It features individual country earthquake risk profiles and delineates areas of potential ground shaking. The earthquake risk map also provides an understanding of the potential impacts and consequences of that shaking.
 
For the first time, the data behind these global maps are centrally stored on GEM’s online platform open and accessible to a wide range of users – from risk analysts, emergency planners and managers to researchers, modellers and the public at large.
 
More than 100 delegates from around the world and across various sectors will gather for the presentation of the global maps on the 5th of December at the Chiesa dei Santi Giacomo e Filippo, Pavia, Italy.
 
The event will feature speakers from Natural Resources Canada; EAFIT University, Colombia; PusGen, Indonesia; and Global Parametrics, United States covering topics from the impacts of the recent Lombok and Palu earthquakes and reducing insurance gap in developing countries, to national and urban earthquake resilience strategy development.
 
Join live via GEM’s website and YouTube channel or follow live updates from their Facebook and Twitter pages.