Central Asia Exposure Model

🌍 Country list

The following countries are covered in this repository. Each country name links to its dedicated README page.

👀 click to see country list

COUNTRY	ISO3
Kazakhstan	KAZ
Kyrgyzstan	KGZ
Tajikistan	TJK
Turkmenistan	TKM
Uzbekistan	UZB

📊 Regional summary

The regional exposure includes the distribution of buildings, replacement value, and exposed population across all countries in Central Asia. The regional exposure includes 11.8 million buildings, USD 802.2 billion in replacement cost, and 83.3 million occupants. The figure below shows the spatial distribution of building counts aggregated onto a discrete hexagonal grid at H3 resolution 5.

Figure: Spatial distribution of building counts aggregated onto a discrete hexagonal grid

Figure: Spatial distribution of building counts aggregated at the first administrative division

Table: Regional exposure model summary per country in Central Asia. See Adm0 summary table for the comple list of national level metrics.

COUNTRY	BUILDINGS	OCCUPANTS	REPLACEMENT COST (USD)	BUILT-UP AREA (SQM)	EMBODIED CARBON (TON)
Uzbekistan	5.8 M	37.1 M	376.0 B	821.7 M	347.3 M
Kazakhstan	3.0 M	20.8 M	286.4 B	430.2 M	212.9 M
Tajikistan	1.5 M	10.5 M	41.0 B	149.2 M	56.0 M
Kyrgyzstan	0.9 M	7.3 M	52.3 B	159.8 M	60.6 M
Turkmenistan	0.7 M	7.6 M	46.5 B	115.6 M	55.7 M

Figure: Regional distribution of exposure by macro-taxonomy.

Figure: Predominant building classes in the region.

🌟 Contributors

The authors are grateful for the input from dozens of local and international experts. A list of contributors can be found at https://www.globalquakemodel.org/risk-model-contributors.

📚 Publications

If you make use of this work, please cite both the publication and the data.

Publications:

Yepes-Estrada, C., Calderon, A., Costa, C., Crowley, H., Dabbeek, J., Hoyos, M., Martins, L., Paul, N., Rao, A., Silva, V. (2023). Global Building Exposure Model for Earthquake Risk Assessment. Earthquake Spectra. doi:10.1177/87552930231194048

Pittore, Massimiliano, Michael Haas, and Vitor Silva. “Variable resolution probabilistic modeling of residential exposure and vulnerability for risk applications.” Earthquake Spectra 36, no. 1_suppl (2020): 321-344.

Data:

Yepes-Estrada, C., Baiguera, M., Calderon, A., Caruso, M., Costa, C., Gonzalez, D., Nafeh, A.M.B., Rao, A., Silva, V. (2026). Global Exposure Model (2026.0.0). doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8117363

⚖️ License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which requires:

• Attribution (you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made)

• Non-commercial (you may not use the material for commercial purposes)

• ShareAlike (derivatives created must be made available under the same license as the original)

If your use case deviates from the requirements of the offered license, but still want to explore the use of the data, please contact us at license@globalquakemodel.org

Any deviation from these terms incurs license infringement. For commercial use of the data contained within this work, a specific license agreement must be made tailored to your use case, in such instance please contact GEM at product@globalquakemodel.org.

🤔 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which version am I seeing? How to change the version?

By default you will see the files in the repository in the main branch. Each version of the model that is released is marked with a tag. By changing the tag version at the top of the repository, you can see the files for a given version.

Note that the main branch could contain the work-in-progress of the next version of the model.

How do I download the data for a given version?

For each version, a released zip file is available: release zip file downloads.

Where can I find additional information on the defined building classes?

The building classes defined within this exposure model follow the GEM Building Taxonomy v4.0. The link provides additional details on taxonomy substrings, images and detailed description of each attribute.

Building classes are mapped to corresponding vulnerability functions available in the GEM’s Global Vulnerability Model. Inside each country there is available a Vulnerability_mapping_ISO3.csv file useful for earthquake risk assessment using the OpenQuake engine.

What do the column headers mean?

Definitions and descriptions of the columns in the exposure summary tables.

👀 click to see definitions and descriptions

HEADER	DESCRIPTION
ASSET_ID	Unique identifier for an asset, which comprises a group of buildings sharing similar attributes and location
ID_0	ISO3 code for the country
NAME_0	English name for the country
ID_1	ID for the first administrative level, matches either the ID used in the national census or in the administrative division boundary vector files, or both
NAME_1	Name of the first administrative level
ID_i	ID for the “ith” administrative level
NAME_i	Name of the “ith” administrative level
LONGITUDE	Geographical longitude cordinate of the asset location. In general, these locations do not represent building-specific geolocations, they represent points as a result of a spatial disaggregation algorithm (and thus still represent aggregated assets) but at a finer resolution.
LATITUDE	Geographical latitude cordinate of the asset location. In general, these locations do not represent building-specific geolocations, they represent points as a result of a spatial disaggregation algorithm (and thus still represent aggregated assets) but at a finer resolution.
OCCUPANCY	Primary occupancy class (RES: residential; COM: commercial; IND: industrial)
OCCUPANCY_TYPE	Detailed occupancy providing a finer classification within the primary OCCUPANCY class, describing the specific functional use of the structure as defined in the GEM taxonomy (e.g., [RES:1] single dwelling; [COM:3C] hotels and motels; [IND:2] light-industry factories).
SETTLEMENT	Type of settlement (e.g., URBAN, RURAL, SUBURBAN, URBAN_CENTER)
TAXONOMY	Building taxonomy string that is used for mapping vulnerability functions for the asset
TAXONOMY_HAZUS	Building taxonomy string compatible with HAZUS classification
MACRO_TAXONOMY	High-level classification of building types used in the Global Exposure Model for statistical analysis
BUILDINGS	The total number of buildings comprising the asset. A building unit is defined as a permanent, separate, and independent structure designed to serve any activity. For constructions comprising blocks, terraced buildings, or buildings enclosed by common fencing, a building unit refers to the superstructure that is structurally designed to respond independently under seismic loads
DWELLINGS	The total number of dwellings comprising the asset. A dwelling unit is defined as a self-contained residential space within a building designed for habitation by one or more individuals or families. For example, a multi-story residential building is comprised of numerous dwelling units, such as multiple apartments within the same structure. Conversely, in a single-family detached unit, the number of dwelling units and buildings is the same
ESTABLISHMENTS	The total number of establishments comprising the asset. An establishment is defined as a single physical location where economic activities occur (e.g., services or industrial operations). An establishment is often characterized by having a specific address, management, and operational control, distinct from other units of the same company or organization.
OCCUPANTS_TOTAL	The number of residents in each residential asset
OCCUPANTS_DAY	The average number of occupants in each asset during the day-time period
OCCUPANTS_TRANSIT	The average number of occupants in each asset during the transit time period
OCCUPANTS_NIGHT	The average number of occupants in each asset during the night-time period
OCCUPANTS_AVERAGE	The time-averaged number of occupants in each asset (residential, commercial, industrial)
AVG_DWL_AREA_SQM	Floor area of a dwelling unit (sqm)
TOTAL_AREA_SQM	The total floor area comprising the asset (sqm)
COST_PER_AREA_USD	The average building cost (as built) per unit area (in US dollars). It includes the structural and nonstructural components, but not the building contents.
COST_PER_AREA_LOCAL	Idem as COST_PER_AREA_USD but using the local currency
BLDG_REPL_COST_USD	Cost to construct or replace the building components (structural and nonstructural) of the asset. It does not includues the contents.
COST_STRUCTURAL_USD	Cost to construct or replace (as built) in US dollars of structural components in each asset
COST_NONSTRUCTURAL_USD	Cost to construct or replace (as built) in US dollars of nonstructural components in each asset
COST_CONTENTS_USD	Cost to construct or replace (as built) in US dollars of contents in each asset
TOTAL_REPL_COST_USD	Cost to construct or replace the asset with equal quality and construction in US dollars (including the structural, nonstructural components, and building contents)
YEAR	Year of construction or retrofit
CARBON_BUILDINGS_TON	The building replacement embodied carbon in Ton CO2e for the asset, including structural and nonstructural components (no building contents)