30 - Assessing global earthquake risks: the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) initiative

Abstract

The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) initiative aims to develop a global model of earthquake risk as an open source, community-driven project. In order to begin this in a structured way, a number of global components that cover the scientific modules of the model have been defined, and requests for proposals have been released, inviting international consortia to bid and lead these projects. The consortia leading these global components define standards and best practice related to the methodologies used in seismic hazard and risk assessment and in particular the collection and storage of data needed therein. This chapter introduces these global components and describes an open source software and risk assessment platform, OpenQuake, that is being developed to provide access to and community interaction with the proposed data and tools.