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Earthquake Risk of Developing Countries

EERI-NC invites you to an April Chapter Meeting to be held jointly with SEAONC, that will feature a presentation on:

Earthquake risk in developing countries is large and growing rapidly. Unless something is done to reduce it, developing countries will suffer human and economic losses far greater than these countries have experienced in the past. Given the “shrinking” of the world, these losses will affect developed countries as well. GeoHazards International (GHI) is a Palo Alto-based, nonprofit organization that has attempted to reduce the death and suffering caused by earthquakes in the world’s most vulnerable communities, through advocacy, preparedness, and mitigation. Disaster response, recovery and reconstruction, which attract so much attention and resources after earthquakes strike, are not the work of GHI. Instead, GHI works before earthquakes to raise awareness, strengthen local institutions, and launch various mitigation activities, particularly in schools and hospitals. GHI and its partners around the world have been succeeding: because of our work, thousands of school children are safer, hundreds of cities are now aware of their risk, the seismic hazard of dozens of cities have been assessed, and numerous local organizations are more capable to manage their communities’ earthquake risk. But there is disturbing evidence that, globally, earthquake risk management is improving at a woefully inadequate rate. As GHI continues its work to improve risk management in developing countries, it welcomes the support of members of EERI and SEAONC.