Author: Ashley Morales-Cartagena, MSc The Dominican Republic (DR) is considered a hotspot for disasters resulting from natural hazards. According to the World Bank from 1980 to 2008 disasters affected 2.65 million people in the DR. We have learned from more frequent hydro-meteorological disasters, however, earthquakes have been less frequent, and there is no ‘culture of preparedness’ for earthquakes. While the scientific community has long anticipated the “Big One”, the seismic risk has not been adequately communicated to the public. It is up to the emerging generation of leaders in risk reduction and mitigation to ensure the country’s resilience to future earthquakes. Academia, industry, and civic organizations are working to identify ways to help build an earthquake-resilient country. In this blog post, Ashley discusses seismicity and the risk profile in the DR, and ongoing work to understand and reduce earthquake risk, and academic-government organizations tackling the challenges of communicating and reducing earthquake risk.

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