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Newsletter
Istanbul Earthquake Scenario Workshop
Location: Turkey
Time frame: 1992
The Problem
By 1992, there was broad interest in using Earthquake Damage Scenarios as an effective tool to motivate cities around the world to launch earthquake safety improvement projects. Earthquake safety experts needed to review Earthquake Damage Scenario methodologies, in order to determine which would be most effective for use in both developed and developing countries.
GHI’s Response
Following GHI’s 1992 pilot project in Quito, Ecuador (the Quito Earthquake Risk Management Project), experts in urban earthquake safety from more than a dozen earthquake-threatened cities in both developing and developed countries around the world were invited to a Workshop in Istanbul, Turkey. The workshop planned to determine if the approaches used in GHI’s Quito project might be useful elsewhere. The invited experts represented diverse specialties – from earthquake engineering, seismology, and urban planning, to emergency response, environmental management, and insurance. Elected officials also attended. The workshop participants shared a commitment to improve international urban earthquake safety. The workshop also provided an opportunity for attendees to compare the hazard mitigation strategies and earthquake recovery experiences of their cities.
Long-Term Outcome
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The Earthquake Scenario Workshop’s consensus judgment was that the approaches used in the GHI Quito pilot project could and should be used elsewhere.
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The Workshop identified critical and transferable elements of risk assessment and mitigation projects already underway in participating cities, which were adapted into concurrent and future mitigation projects in other cities.
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The Workshop demonstrated the usefulness of collaboration among urban earthquake safety experts from developed and developing countries. These collaborations have continued in many subsequent projects.
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Since the 1992 Workshop, Earthquake Damage Scenarios using ideas discussed in the Workshop have been created for more than a dozen cities.