RMS Joins the Global Earthquake Model Foundation

NEWARK, CA – March 21, 2022 – RMS^®, a world leading risk modeling and solutions company, has joined the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, an international public-private partnership that develops and disseminates open-source earthquake hazard and risk assessment software, models and data. The GEM Foundation collaborates worldwide, building local and organizational capacity toward understanding and managing earthquake risk on a local to global scale.

The combination of RMS’ latest scientific research and applications, and comprehensive coverage of seismically active regions across the globe; and GEM’s array of open earthquake hazard and risk models and OpenQuake software tools will further enable insurers, reinsurers, financial services organizations, and the public sector with the most informed view of earthquake risk available today.

In the last 12 years, GEM has contributed substantially to the broader objectives of the disaster risk reduction community through public-private partnership, research, technical cooperation, training and distribution of open tools that have been used to build a global mosaic of earthquake hazard models and to develop a global risk model centered on the physical and financial risk to the built environment and human population.

John Schneider, GEM Secretary General, said: “GEM has become widely known for its work and its contribution to improving the state of knowledge of earthquake risk. Working with RMS to advance earthquake science and open data can further strengthen our scientific insights and commitment to understand, evaluate, and manage earthquake risk especially in underserved regions of the world.”

Mohsen Rahnama, Chief Risk Modeling Officer, RMS, said: “RMS started at Stanford University by developing earthquake models for California. The science around earthquakes continues to grow and develop, as does the technology that helps support even greater analysis and understanding of these catastrophic events. RMS has long admired the work of GEM and we are pleased to now be part of this prestigious foundation. We look forward to working with the other members of GEM as we move towards advancing global earthquake understanding and knowledge.”

About GEM Foundation

GEM was formed in 2009 as a non-profit foundation in Pavia, Italy, funded through a public-private sponsorship with the vision to create a world that is resilient to earthquakes. GEM is funded by public and private institutions globally, and is advised by many international organizations (https://www.globalquakemodel.org/partners).

GEM is also recognized by the UN as an NGO, operating under UN guidelines for a humanitarian organization. Through global partnerships, GEM’s mission is to:

• Continue to be the world’s official, most complete source of earthquake risk resources and a globally accepted standard for risk assessment;
• Ensure that GEM products find application in catastrophe risk management worldwide;
• Become a global leader in integrated, multi-hazard risk assessment and resilience planning