New Delhi, December 09, 2023: The New Delhi-based Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) launched the Global Infrastructure Risk Model and Resilience Index (GIRI) platform at COP28 in Dubai. GIRI is the first publicly available, fully probabilistic risk model for infrastructure assets concerning major geological and climate-related hazards. GIRI will facilitate a greater understanding of the benefits of investing in disaster-resilient infrastructure (DRI), by allowing users to interpret the capacity of a country to absorb, respond and recover from disasters.
The ‘Map Viewer’ on the GIRI Data Platform will allow a user to see a range of hazard layers across different return periods and climate scenarios. Users can, through GIRI, produce a bespoke model to predict changes in vulnerability and capacities over time and estimate the benefits and returns of investing in DRI. This can also be used to demonstrate and enable the integration of resilience in public investment planning and evaluation, design of public and private infrastructure projects, formulation of resilience-based design standards and calibration of insurance and other risk financing instruments.
At a sectoral level, GIRI can be used to estimate risks specifically relating to power and energy, transport, telecommunications, water and wastewater, ports and airports, oil and gas, and health and education, concerning most major geological and climate-related hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods, cyclonic wind, storm surge, and drought.
Amit Prothi, Director General, CDRI remarked, “CDRI is proud to launch its data platform ‘GIRI’ at COP28, in UAE. GIRI will enable governments to understand the contingent liabilities they face and so inform the development of national infrastructure strategies and plans to reduce risk and strengthen resilience. It aligns with COP28’s objectives for inclusivity and solution-driven approaches.”
GIRI datasets can be freely downloaded allowing access by those most at risk and in need and can provide the basis for developing national infrastructure pipelines, policies, and enhanced infrastructure standards.
Other launches by CDRI at COP28 include DRI Connect – CDRI’s one-stop digital stakeholder engagement, learning and collaborative platform for global DRI stakeholders working towards resilient infrastructure systems; Global Methodology for Infrastructure Resilience Review; Community of Practice on Heat; and Community of Practice on Resilient Infrastructure for Energy Transition: Building Climate Resilience in the Hydropower Sector through Early Warning Systems. Further, CDRI is set to unveil its Urban Infrastructure Resilience Strategy at COP28, marking astep toward programmes aimed at enhancing city infrastructure resilience.
