EMME - Earthquake Model of the Middle East Region: Hazard, Risk Assessment, Economics & Mitigation

Organization EMME - Earthquake Model of the Middle East region

Geographical coverage: Regional

Source: SED/ETHZ - Swiss Seismological Service (SED)

Start Date: 2009-06-01

End Date: 2011-01-01

Website http://www.emme-gem.org

Keywords Azerbaijan Georgia Turkey Armenia Cyprus India Jordan Lebanon Pakistan Syria Switzerland

Description

The number of people died in earthquakes and tsunamis worldwide in the last decade is about half a million, based on recent statistics. The majority of this life loss occurred in developing countries where population and urbanization is increasing rapidly without any major control, there by also yielding a high risk for the future. The Middle East region is located at the junction of major tectonic plates, namely the African, Arabian and Eurasian plates, resulting in very high tectonic activity. Some of the major earthquake disasters in human history occurred in the Middle East, affecting most countries in the region. Being one of the most seismically active regions of the world, Middle East, extending from Turkey to India, is also a key region in terms of urbanization, energy reserves and industrialization trend. The region under consideration involves world’s most populated capitals and cities with key economical importance such as Istanbul, Baghdad, Tehran, Jeddah, Riyadh, Cairo, Kabul, Karachi and Lahore. 

 

 

Seismic Hazard of the region (UN Global Seismic Hazard Program ,GSHAP, 1999)

 

 

EMME (Earthquake Model of the Middle East Region) aims at the assessment of earthquake hazard, the associated risk in terms of structural damages, casualties and economic losses and also at the evaluation of the effects of relevant mitigation measures in the Middle East region in concert with the aims and tools of GEM. The EMME project will encompass several modules such as the Hazard Module, Seismic Risk Module, Socio- Economic Loss Module and the development of an IT infrastructure or platform for the integration and application of modules under consideration. The methodologies and software developments within the context of EMME will be compatible with GEM in order to enable the integration process.  As such, a comprehensive interaction between the two projects is foreseen.

Participants