The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) is pleased to announce that the 2020 Outstanding Paper Award has been awarded to “Development of a global seismic risk model,” Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 36, No. S1, pp. 372-394, by Vitor Silva, Desmond Amo-Oduro, Alejandro Calderon, Catarina Costa, Jamal Dabbeek, Venetia Despotaki, Luis Martins, Marco Pagani, Anirudh Rao, Michele Simionato, Daniele Viganò, Catalina Yepes-Estrada, Ana Acevedo, Helen Crowley, Nick Horspool, Kishor Jaiswal, Murray Journeay, and Massimiliano Pittore.
The Outstanding Paper Award recognizes authors of Earthquake Spectra papers judged to be outstanding contributions to earthquake hazard mitigation. Papers must have made a significant impact on the profession, provided a significant advance in the state-of-the-art or understanding of a particular topic, be of exceptional technical quality with concise and informative illustrations, and be well-written for a broad audience.
The award citation notes that the development of a Global Seismic Risk Model was a mammoth undertaking that involved hundreds of people and for the first time presented a detailed view of seismic risk at the global scale. For some developing countries, this was the first time that a seismic risk map was produced, and the associated country profiles are being used by the local authorities. The development and delivery of a modern global seismic risk model required unprecedented technical, algorithmic, coding, databasing, and collaborative research and development—all well documented by Silva et al. Noting its importance, all three reviewers recommended this seminar paper for an award. This paper was released as a part of the 2020 Earthquake Spectra Special Issue titled "GEM's 2018 global hazard and risk models." Though it was released only last year, it has already garnered 27 citations, 1,700 views on the Earthquake Spectra SAGE portal.
Vitor Silva is the Seismic Risk Coordinator at the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, and an Associate Professor at the University Fernando Pessoa in Portugal. He leads studies in structural vulnerability and probabilistic seismic risk assessment in dozens of countries, and participates in a multitude of International, European and regional projects. His research covers the assessment of earthquake impact at the global scale, incorporation of the temporal component in earthquake risk, and exploration of machine learning technology in the assessment of earthquake hazard, vulnerability and exposure. He has authored more than 100 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and was the recipient of the Shah Family Innovation Award by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and the Natural Hazards Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award by the European Geosciences Union.
The authorship team for this paper spans well-established earthquake engineers, early career researchers, and doctoral students. This diverse team had researchers from the United States Geological Survey, Natural Resources Canada, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), GNS Science in New Zealand, the Eucentre in Italy, EAFIT University from Colombia, and of course, the Global Earthquake Model Foundation. The development of this global seismic risk model was literally a learning experience, involving several PhD students whose contribution was fundamental for the success of the study. The team also recognizes contributions from dozens of other experts that revised, improved and expanded the various components of this global model.
For more information about the Outstanding Paper Award, visit the EERI awards page.
