Software CAPRA (Probabilistic Risk Assessment) Platform

Organizational

General Information:

Author: Universidad de los Andes, Center for Coordination of Natural Disaster Prevention in Central America (CEPREDENAC), UNISDR, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and The World Bank

Year of publication: 2008

Available languages: English

Details of Assessment:

Type of assessment: Comprehensive impact and risk assessment

Details: This platform offers softwares that comprise tools of analysis within the realms of exposure & vulnerability, hazard (geologic / hydrogeological), climate change and risk assessment

Format of assessment: Software

Details: Website that comprises different softwares for different phenomena (Capra-EQ for geological hazards; ERN Volcano; IT Flood; CAPRA Hurricanes; ERN Vulnerability, etc.); evaluates losses / risks; tool connects automatically to available model outputs and datasets

Estimated costs for conducting: No information

Estimated duration of assessment: No information

To be carried out by whom: Multiple actors

Details: Government, institutions, private companies and other agencies

Institutional scale of use: Continental

Assesment to be used by which target audience: State level decision makers

Output: Excel sheet

Details: Risk-modeling platform with different software applications; probabilistic hazard models

Methodological

Coverage & Methodology:

Region of origin: Europe, Latin America, North America

Developed by which sector: Development cooperation, Science

Applied in practice: Yes

Geographic coverage in analysis: Worldwide

Potential geographic coverage: Worldwide

Details: Calculates damages and losses of human lives, therefore impacts are relevant to different sectors

Method used: Mixed method approach

Description of methodology: Hazard information obtained from historical data and published investigations is used to build probabilistic hazard models. Intensity measures -seismic, tsunami, strong winds, storm-surge, flood; volcanic products- are related to economic loss through physical vulnerability functions. The main output risk metrics are the loss exceedance curve, the average annual loss, the probable maximum loss and pure risk premium

Risk framework used: No explicit use of risk framework

Risk components incorporated: All

Hazards and impacts considered in the assessment: Cyclone (including tropical storm, hurricane and typhoon), Drought, Flood, Storm surge

Details: Already included databases can be combined with collected spatial explicit data on assets to inform exposure and vulnerability components

Participatory elements: Yes

Details: Software applications for own usage as well as interactive webinar

Consideration of interconnectedness and -dependencies of risks: Yes

Details: Combination of exposure & vulnerability; hazards & climate change and risk assessment

Adressing uncertainty: Yes

Scope of assessment: Identification of risks, assessment of impacts, identification of adaptation options, priorization of adaptation options, identification of limits to adaptation

Details: Impact and risk assessment

Relevance for losses and damages:

Economic/Non-Economic losses incorporated: Both

Applicability for entire risk spectrum (from extreme weather events to slow onset processes): No

Applicability

Recommendations for Adaptation measures included in Climate Risk Assessment: Partly

Details: There is a consultancy component and the possibility of technical asssistance in adaptation endeavours

Usefulness for political purposes: Useful for development practice, but in Latin American context

Applied by whom: CAPRA users range from technical experts, academics, government institutions, and emergency response organizations, to risk management consultants and decision-makers, a wide and far-reaching community.

Open access: Yes