The GAR atlas: Unveiling global disaster risk

The GAR Atlas presents the output of a Global Risk Model (GRM) that can estimate the disaster risk associated with different kinds of hazard faced by national economies throughout the world. The model uses a state-of-the-art probabilistic approach analogous to that applied by the catastrophe modelling and insurance industry over recent decades. This model has been developed by a consortium of leading scientific and technical organisations, under the coordination of UNISDR. Initial results from the model have already been previewed in GAR13 and GAR15.

The GAR Atlas displays the risk associated with earthquakes, tsunamis, riverine flooding, cyclonic winds and storm surge with a global level of observation and a national level of resolution. By using the same methodology, arithmetic and exposure model to calculate the risk for all these hazards, the GAR Atlas provides globally comparable multi-hazard risk metrics and enables comparisons of risk levels between countries and regions and across hazard types. For example, the values associated with earthquake risk in Indonesia and flood risk in Colombia, and their relevance for national economies, can now be compared because they have been calculated using the same methodological framework.

In this way, the GAR Atlas facilitates a better understanding of the global risk landscape, enabling the estimation of the order of magnitude of probable losses in each country, and takingintoaccountthe risk contributions from different hazards. The GAR Atlas is the first of its kind that is non-proprietary, completely open and with multi-hazard global coverage.

The GAR Atlas: Unveiling Global Disaster Risk is an augmented reality publication. It has been designed to be read and explored using an IOS or Android tablet. Most of the information contained in the GAR Atlas can only be accessed in this way.