Share

The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation TREQ Project, with support from USAID, presented the progress of the urban earthquake hazard and risk assessments, and capacity development efforts in Quito (Ecuador), Cali (Colombia) and Santiago de los Caballeros (Dominican Republic) on July 9th 2021 via Zoom webinar.

The event featured the USGS earthquake hazard- and consequences-driven scenarios for the pilot cities, the results of the OpenQuake engine training in hazard and risk assessment, and lessons from the integration of TREQ’s educational and training materials into university courses.

Building on the success of the collaborative efforts of the South America Risk Assessment project (SARA) in 2013 and Central America and the Caribbean Risk Assessment project (CCARA) in 2017, the TREQ team, in collaboration with local experts from Quito, Cali and Santiago de los Caballeros, are updating the hazard and risk models of the pilot cities using more detailed hazard and risk information. The project results are expected to set the foundation for enhancing earthquake hazard and risk assessment in other cities and urban areas in the region.

The results of the study will be open and accessible to a wide-range of users – from risk analysts, emergency planners and managers to researchers, modelers and the public at large. While most of the models will be available, there will be some limitations due to privacy considerations of local governments.

Since 2020, the TREQ team has trained more than 400+ individuals from almost 60 countries - the majority from the countries where the pilot studies are located, namely Ecuador, Colombia and Dominican Republic - and produced training and educational materials that are being adapted for university courses through the project’s Training the Trainers component. Below is some of the feedback from the stakeholders.

"I really liked the experience and I would like to take this workshop to my students of the Master's Degree in Earthquake Engineering so that we can do research projects." - Maribel Guzman, PUCMM, Dominican Republic.

"Delighted with the information presented and the material is excellent, including the modeling software" - Hernán Suárez, Risk Management Unit - Municipality of Quito, Ecuador

"Congratulations on the development of the tool and your training! Very, very interesting and useful." - Srahyrlandy Rocio Díaz, Risk management secretariat, Cali, Colombia.

More than 240 individuals participated from around the world and across various sectors in the webinar held on July 9th, 2021. The event was streamed live on Facebook in English and Spanish.

For more information, visit the event page at .