The AON Foundation's general director , Pedro Tomey, visited the School to witness the defense of Patricia Maraña 's thesis on public-private cooperation in the prevention and response to catastrophic situations. The AON Foundation and Tecnun began a close collaboration four years ago, when the Foundation launched the Catastrophe Observatory, a research center and analysis of catastrophes, how to predict them and the formulas to respond to them, focusing especially on the defense of human lives and the protection of the most disadvantaged in these situations and crises.

Pedro Tomey, director general of AON Foundation Spain, searched for several months for the best researchers in Spain on this topic. "At Tecnun, we discovered that Professor José María Sarriegi wasdirectly involved in research lines of the European Union institutions for the detection and public-private response to natural, industrial or environmental disasters," says Tomey. "Sarriegi has clearly been a pioneer in disaster research".

Jose María Sarriegi joined the Disaster Observatory on behalf of Tecnun from the moment it was created. Other institutions represented in the Observatory include the Spanish Red Cross, Unespa, the insurance employers' association, ONCE, the Military Emergency Unit (UME), AON Banfield, the Agrupación de Gestores de Riesgos (Agers) and the University of Comillas Icai-Icade.

Within the Philosophy that guides the work of the Observatory, the AON Spain Foundation provided an annual scholarship during the three years that Patricia Maraña spent on the work of her doctoral dissertation. For Pedro Tomey, "Jose María Sarriegi was a European pioneer in research and teaching on subject catastrophes; now, he leaves his mark on Tecnun as the leader of a team of highly qualified professors and doctoral students. For us at the AON Foundation and the Observatory, it was an honor and a privilege to be able to count on his financial aid".  

The AON Foundation's idea is to focus the Observatory's focus each year on researching a specific catastrophe. "Since we started we have studied floods, storms, earthquakes and forest fires. In 2019 we will focus on climate change and how it influences the generation of catastrophes," assures director general of the Foundation and president of the Observatory.

Tomey visited Tecnun to attend in situ at the defense of Patricia Maraña's thesis, which focused on the resilience of cities in the face of catastrophic events and public-private collaboration to cope with these disasters. The directors of the thesis had been Professor Sarriegi himself and Leire Labaka.

The AON Foundation and the Observatory want to advance in their relationship with the world of research and teaching and in 2019 they will launch the Chair AON on Catastrophes. "Our idea is that Tecnun will be one of the venues of the new Chair, for which we are making a plan director for the next three years," Pedro Tomey advanced." It is also a posthumous tribute to Jose María Sarriegi, from the admiration, respect and friendship forged during the last four years with his active and enriching presence at the AON Foundation's Disaster Observatory, which has allowed us to share with him part of his wisdom and passion for research."