Shaukat Aziz, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has given his approval to a plan to establish a research centre for earthquake risk assessment and management. The centre, which will cater to the needs of South Asia, Central Asia and Middle East, will be located at the National Center for Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. ICTP is among the international organizations that the new centre will work with. Other organizations include the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Vladimir Keilis-Borok and Inessa Vorobieva, two well-known seismologists who have collaborated with ICTP’s Structure and Non-Linear Dynamics of the Earth (SAND) group for more than 20 years, were part of a select group who served as consultants during discussions that led to the creation of the new centre.