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ImageCat presented at the 13th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (13NCEE)

melissahuyck — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 15:07:17 +0000

The 13th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (13NCEE) was held in Portland, Oregon from July 13th to 18th, 2026. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) organized the event, which is held every four years. The gathering brought the international earthquake community together to present and discuss new ideas and advances in the field of earthquake and tsunami science, including current practices, mitigation, and public policy. ImageCat was represented by Ron Eguchi, ZhengHui Hu, Yajie Lee, and William Graf.

On July 16^th, Ron co-moderated the special session From Hazard to Risk: Tsunami Impacts by Integrating Earth Observation, Exposure, and Real-Time Forecasting in a Changing Climate. In the session, ZhengHui Hu presented TsunamiCat-an online tsunami risk visualization platform. TsunamiCat is a comprehensive tsunami risk and loss assessment platform for the U.S. West Coast, leveraging cutting-edge earthquake and tsunami models, advanced cyberinfrastructure, and Earth Observation (EO) data to characterize building inventories and exposure.

Ron also co-moderated the special session Lifeline Infrastructure Resilience: A System-of-Systems Challenge. The presentations in this session highlighted the Lifelines Infrastructure Hub, a national platform created by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to bring stakeholders together for open communication about and solutions to gaps in lifeline resilience.

Also on the 16^th, Yajie Lee presented Enhancing Decision Stability in Seismic Hazard and Risk Updates by Explicitly Accounting for Epistemic Uncertainty in the session, Insurance applications and Catastrophe Risk Modeling. Decision-makers are constantly navigating swings in hazard and risk assessments driven by evolving models, while stability in decisions and policies remains highly desirable in practice. In this talk, Yajie presented an innovative approach to addressing this dilemma: leveraging the best available science from updated models while enhancing decision stability by acknowledging inherent scientific uncertainties.

On the 17^th, William Graf presented Collapse Risk Screening in Seismic Risk Assessments in the session, Seismic Analysis and Design Methods II. ImageCat team members Yajie Lee and Michael Eguchi contributed to the presentation which compared the tools available to estimate collapse probability for a defined ground motion scenario as a part of seismic risk assessments performed per ASTM E2026, and suggests use of CODA-Collapse. It further described how collapse and damage estimates are linked, and how to estimate the probability of collapse within an exposure period defined by the user (e.g., owner or lender), providing a clear result for the ASTM requirement on building stability.

Charles Huyck is now a member of the Alaska Satellite Facility’s (ASF) User Working Group (UWG)

melissahuyck — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 21:23:32 +0000

Charles Huyck is now a member of the Alaska Satellite Facility’s (ASF) User Working Group (UWG). The ASF is a high-latitude facility in Fairbanks, Alaska that serves as a vital connection between Earth-observing satellites and user communities worldwide through facilitation and participation in the use of remote sensing to support national and international Earth science research, disaster response, and commercial applications. The UWG is a group of users that work together to ensure the ASF continues to meet the evolving needs of the scientific community and applied science community. As a member, Charles will meet with the group annually.

Shubharoop Ghosh attended the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESENT) Partnerships and Applications Workshop held June 25–26, 2026

melissahuyck — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 21:04:38 +0000

Shubharoop Ghosh attended the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESENT) Partnerships and Applications Workshop held June 25–26, 2026 at the University of Oregon in Portland. Shubharoop was part of the workshop planning committee which included representatives of partner organizations from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Each member brought valuable experience, perspective, and connections relevant to community scenario needs and interests.

The two-day workshop aimed to facilitate community interaction to understand scenario uses and needs, determine how science can support use cases and needs with existing or future research/scenario development, and plan and design specific outputs to support response and interagency clearinghouses and develop strategic partnerships for future coordination and/or scientific research towards resilience.

Shubharoop represented ImageCat as a collaborator from the private sector and worked to facilitate engagement and collaboration between the CRESCENT scientific community and the insurance industry. He presented From hazard to decision: How earthquake and tsunami scenarios drive insurance risk management and response.

Japan’s southern island of Kyushu struck by a strong earthquake, July 2026

melissahuyck — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 20:37:10 +0000

Japan’s southern island of Kyushu was struck by a strong earthquake on Tuesday, July 28^th,2026. According to the USGS, the quake measured a magnitude of 6.8. The epicenter was near Uto, a coastal city about 30 miles south of Kumamoto City in Kumamoto prefecture. The neighboring Nagasaki prefecture also impacted. At least 34 people were killed and nearly 10,000 people are staying in evacuation shelters. The quake caused considerable damage to homes, buildings and infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and power. Train and air travel were halted and some major manufacturing plants closed for damage inspection. Search and rescue are ongoing amidst sweltering heat and strong earthquakes.

Western Europe experiencing a wildfire emergency, July 2026

melissahuyck — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 20:29:01 +0000

Western Europe is experiencing a wildfire emergency, with hundreds of fires breaking out amid extreme heat.

Numerous fires have plagued southwestern France, with Gironde and Landes departments being the most impacted. The Gironde fire near Bordeaux has burned an area four times the size of Paris. Another large fire is burning near Madrid in Spain. It is largest wildfire in Spain’s recorded history. Across both Spain and France, approximately 330,000 people were forced to evacuate. These 2 fires are now considered contained and some evacuation notices have been lifted. A wildfire in eastern England along the Suffolk coast began on Wednesday, July 29^th. It is burning just 4 miles from a nuclear power plant. Approximately 200 wildfires have broken out in England and Wales in the last 2 weeks. A large fire also broke out on the Greek island of Crete on Thursday, July 30^th. Thousands of people have evacuated and two firefighters killed.

Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is experiencing a record-breaking summer, with extreme heat, dryness, and high winds creating dangerous fire conditions.

Michael Eguchi and Shubharoop Ghosh attended the California Wildfire Exercise workshop, June 8th-9th in Palo Alto, CA

melissahuyck — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 19:21:55 +0000

Michael Eguchi and Shubharoop Ghosh attended the California Wildfire Exercise workshop, June 8th-9th in Palo Alto, California. The workshop brought together over 75 leaders from science, technology, fire service, government, insurance, utilities, and philanthropy for two days of focused discussion on the future of wildfire risk intelligence. The conversations reinforced the value of combining science, technology, and operational expertise to drive more effective risk assessment and decision-making. The event was organized by the UL Research Institutes, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), UC San Diego Societal Computing and Innovation Lab, Google, SERDP & ESTCP and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Contact Shubharoop Ghosh for more information about ImageCat’s wildfire modeling solutions.

Charles Huyck spoke at NASA’s Committee on Earth Science Mid-Decadal Meeting in Washington D.C. on June 15th, 2026.

melissahuyck — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 19:13:58 +0000

Charles Huyck was invited to speak at NASA’s Committee on Earth Science Mid-Decadal Meeting in Washington D.C. on June 15^th, 2026. His presentation focused on EO applications in Insurance.

The Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space (CESAS) provides an independent, authoritative forum for identifying and discussing Earth system science research requiring data from space with the research community, the federal government, and the interested public. The committee supports scientific progress in the field by providing advice to the federal government on the implementation of decadal survey recommendations.

Charles Huyck and Zhenghui Hu attended the Annual NASA Disasters Program Meeting in Portland, Oregon, June 2026

melissahuyck — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:15:08 +0000

Charles Huyck and Zhenghui Hu attended the Annual NASA Disasters Program Meeting in Portland, Oregon from June 8^th -10^th. Disaster science and disaster management professionals gathered to foster collaboration, share cutting-edge science, and encourage interactive learning. Keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops, networking sessions, and hands-on activities are planned.

Charles and Zhenghui attended as representatives for ImageCat’s two grants funded through the NASA Disasters Program: GEDI-Resilience Navigator: Guiding Resilience through Modeling Economic and Social Impacts of Climate and Seismic Hazards (GEDI RN) and TsunamiCAT, a National Tsunami Risk and Loss Platform for the U.S. West Coast.

Please Contact us for more information about GEDI RN or TsunamiCAT

Earthquakes in Venezuela, June 2026

melissahuyck — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:00:25 +0000

Two strong quakes struck off the northern coast of Venezuela in the evening of Wednesday, June 24^th, 2026. The first, a 7.2 magnitude quake, was a foreshock. The second quake occurred less than a minute later, measuring magnitude 7.5. The epicenters were west and southwest of the coastal town, Morón, respectively. The heavily populated northern states, La Guaira in particular, and the city of Caracas, suffered heavy damage, including large-scale building damage and collapse and loss of lifelines. Official deaths rose to 3,535 and some experts estimate that 41,000 are still missing. More than 1,600 people are displaced.

Seismic engineers attribute the extensive damage to a combination of soft ground soil and tall concrete structures that often lack sufficient seismic reinforcement.

Contact us about our Global Cat Response services.

Shubharoop Ghosh attended the “At the Shallow Frontier: Faulting, Deformation, and Tsunamigenesis in Cascadia” workshop, University of Oregon

Shubharoop Ghosh — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:47:37 +0000

Shubharoop Ghosh attended At the Shallow Frontier: Faulting, Deformation, and Tsunamigenesis in Cascadia, May 28-29, 2026, at the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center, University of Oregon, Eugene. The interdisciplinary workshop was held for presentations and discussion of the of geologic, seismic, and modeling advances being made and the implications for hazards, and operational implementation for long-term hazard assessment and early warning. The workshop and activities covered a swath of tsunami-related topics, such as advancing understanding of Cascadia tsunami generation; integration of multi-disciplinary data and modeling; improving physics-based tsunami modeling; reducing uncertainty in hazard assessments; and developing a community roadmap for future research 5-10 years. A Poster Session and Lightning Talks were held, as well as a white paper writing session and a meeting for the Tsunami Sources for Hazard Assessment (TSHA) Special Interest Group. Lastly, a community white paper is being created from the workshop, outlining priorities for future research needed to capture the full complexity of shallow rupture, deformation processes, and tsunami generation to improve tsunami hazard assessments for Cascadia.

Shubharoop Ghosh represented ImageCat at the poster session and lightning talk, exhibiting and discussing TsunamiCAT: A National Tsunami Risk and Loss Estimation Platform for the U.S. West Coast, highlighting work on large-scale tsunami risk analytics and loss modeling for coastal communities.