PEER recently received generous funding from RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences Foundation to support work investigating impacts of the Nepal earthquake and to disseminate actionable information related to lessons learned from the disaster that will help the community rebuild more resiliently.
“We were saddened by the tragic loss of life and community devastation caused by the Nepal earthquake,” said Stephen Weinstein, Chairman of the RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences Foundation and General Counsel of RenaissanceRe. “But we have also been inspired by Nepal’s commitment to build back better and implement increased resiliency measures, including improved site-appropriate construction practices. We hope this support contributes towards reducing the life safety risk of future events and towards increased understanding of seismic risk in communities worldwide.”
Craig Tillman, President of RenaissanceRe’s WeatherPredict unit and President of its Risk Sciences Foundation, said that the funds were granted to PEER “in support of its ongoing efforts to promote seismic resilience, especially for critical care facilities which are so crucial in catastrophes. RenaissanceRe is honored to be a long-time supporter of PEER and is pleased to support this work to identify and reduce vulnerability and risk associated with seismic hazards.”
Steve Mahin, PEER Director, acknowledged the funding and said “I am very pleased with the willingness of RenaissanceRe to support engineering investigations of the effects of the Nepal earthquake on medical care facilities. From such studies we can learn about vulnerabilities of such critical facilities to earthquake hazards, the effectiveness of various mitigation measures that were put in place, and actions that might be taken to improve resilience.”
The RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences Foundation supports scientific research in natural catastrophes, the development of risk mitigation techniques to safeguard communities, and organizations that preserve coastal and other risk-exposed habitats. RenaissanceRe is one of the world’s largest providers of property catastrophe reinsurance and its deep understanding of atmospheric risks helps clients reduce the financial impact and turmoil of catastrophes. The company founded the Foundation to promote risk education, preparation and mitigation through activities including the award-winning Risk Mitigation Leadership Forum series, much of whose content is available at no charge at www.mitigationleadership.com.