ALMATY, 18 January 2022 – The virtual workshop "Challenges of Multi-Peril Hazard Modeling at Regional Scale: Assessing Earthquake, Flood and Landslide Hazard in Central Asia" embarked today and will continue until January 21, 2022. During this four-day event, participants will be introduced to various methodologies for regional‐scale seismic, flood and landslide hazard assessment, underlining the importance of emerging information from global and local datasets. Special emphasis will be placed on challenges to achieve regional modelling through data harmonization between Central Asian countries.

Central Asia is exposed to different natural hazards, primarily earthquakes, floods, landslides, and mudflows, which have the potential for causing casualties and significant economic losses, as reported in the Disaster Risk Profile for the region[1]. Since Central Asian states gained their independence in 1991, earthquakes, floods, and landslides alone caused damages of more than $3.8 billion (adjusted for inflation). While significant progress has been made over the last decades, more regional collaboration is needed to consolidate national efforts and strengthen disaster management capacities more comprehensively.

The main objective of this workshop is to provide an overview of the most recent methodologies to produce regionally consistent hazard estimates, building on earlier projects and available resources. The workshop targets local experts, institutions, and research groups with a role in disaster risk management and emergency planning and provide them with the basics on a number of tools and techniques commonly used for the development of hazard models. Participants will be equipped with new methods that they can directly apply in their daily ambitions to reduce disaster risks across Central Asia.

This is the sixth of a series of regional and country-based workshops on risk assessment in Central Asia and a direct contribution to European Union and World Bank/GFDRR efforts towards enhancing regional coordination and maximizing the impact of national efforts in disaster risk management.

The workshops are organized in the framework of the EU-funded Program “Strengthening Financial Resilience and Accelerating Risk Reduction in Central Asia” (SFRARR). The SFRARR Program – managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and implemented by the World Bank in close collaboration with the Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR) – supports Central Asian countries in building disaster resilience and strengthening capacities for financial protection.

For additional information, please contact:

Ms Elnura Abakanova, Communications Officer, EU Delegation to Kazakhstan, e-mail: elnura.abakanova@eeas.europa.eu;

Ms Chyi-Yun Huang, Senior Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank, e-mail: chuang@worldbank.org.

[1] Michael Thurman UNDP/BCPR, Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor, Europe and CIS http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/Natural-disaster-risks-in-Central-Asia-A-synthesis.pdf