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World

Natural Disasters Prevention
Flood & Earthquake

Conference 2016

1. Overview

2. Programme

3. Gallery

4. Delegates

5. Exhibitors

6. Exhibition Opportunities

PROGRAMME

DAY ONE (25 May 2016)

08:30	Registration
09:00	Introduction
09:15	A review of risk governance in respond to natural disasters and emergency management
10:00	Morning Refreshments
10:15	The urgent needs to start budgeting for natural disasters as a tools to implement national action plan and investment in risk reduction efforts to improve disaster management, recovery and build the resilience of communities
11:00	The 2013 Southern Alberta flooding, flood-risk mitigation, recovery efforts and lessons to be learned to mitigate future floods
11:45	Case studies on stepping up flood control efforts by dredging river channels, reinforcing dikes and reservoirs after a devastating flood: Thailand’s success story
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Monitoring and furthering the understanding of earthquake early warnings
14:45	The critical need for the development of an early warning system for earthquakes into current building infrastructure and structures in vulnerable areas
15:30	Afternoon Refreshments
15:45	Towards adoption of a new earthquake detection system to manage the unexpected earthquake disaster
16:30	Panel discussion
17:00	End of Day 1

DAY TWO (26 May 2016)

09:00	Introduction
09:15	Decision support system for flash flood warning system
10:00	Morning Refreshments
10:15	A review of risk governance in respond to natural disasters and emergency management
11:00	Integrated flood mitigation management
11:45	Developing action plan for non-engineering measures for protection from flood disaster: Institutionalizing the experience and lesson to be learned
12:30	Lunch
14:00	The role of geo-information technology in disaster risk reduction
14:45	Discussion on flood disasters including flood-risk mitigation and recovery efforts in order to mitigate the effects of floods in the future
15:30	Afternoon Refreshments
15:45	Flood disaster: how do we respond?
16:30	Concluding Panel Discussion
17:00	End of Conference

Latest flood crisis in parts of Middle East, with current flood situation in Saudi Arabia remains grim, while Qatar which was hit by heavy rains and flooding since 25 November 2015, almost bringing the country to a standstill. In the aftermath of flood crisis, this conference provides cutting edge knowledge and solutions to immediately map out strategy to resolve the aftermath of flood crisis, including to prevent the prolong floods as well as to reduce future flooding read more... [hide] The Middle East is one of the driest landscapes on earth. It is not often thought of as being a place where flooding is of great concern. However, the rapid pace of urbanization has increased the impact of severe rainfalls across the Middle East, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which has recently experienced heavy rains and flooding due to lack of adequate stormwater drainage networks, which has caused flooding of streets, tunnels as well as damaged to homes and public infrastructures. As such, this conference offers a timely platform for all national disaster management agencies, policy makers, stakeholders and disaster reduction professionals to take a closer look at construction flaws and immediately map out new strategy to optimize disaster mitigation opportunities, including increasing resilience of existing flood control infrastructure in order to reduce future flood. For technical experts, including flood defense experts and providers of flood protection, this conference provides an opportunity to participate in rolling out innovative flood control infrastructure as well as provide technical expertise and support to construct dams, new channels to drain rainwater and dredging river channels after a devastating flood, including revamping the entire storm water drainage system to mitigate flooding, a solution that is much needed to solve emerging flood crisis and to prevent future flooding, due to lack of adequate stormwater drainage networks. This conference has all the panel of expertise that has experienced managing prolong flood crisis in recent years. The sharing of information and contacts at this conference will provide an efficient and effective strategy to better prepare for and manage flood disaster with different experiences and lessons learned from previous flood disasters in order to gain access to cutting edge knowledge and solutions to immediately resolve the aftermath of flood crisis as well as to reduce future flooding.

More frequent heavy precipitation events, with an associated increased risk of flooding, while the latest earthquake disaster in Nepal has shown that we have to utilize the newest technology to forecast and prevent this in the future, and most recently, British Columbia (BC) coast has had several larger shakes, and it is like nature will tell us something, we just have to listen now and in the meantime, be updated on latest technology and state-of-the-art flood prevention as well as solution to optimizing earthquake mitigation read more... [hide] Natural disaster losses across Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe and the region are likely to rise faster than economic growth unless there is an effective disaster relief and recovery strategy. Damaged caused by natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, is outpacing wealth creation, with average global economic disaster losses have risen by 200 percent over the last 25 years. 2011 was the costliest year on record for disasters with estimated global losses of US$380 billion. Flooding and especially the aftermath of flooding events are very costly. Home insurance policies generally do not cover surface water flooding and homeowners are depending on the government to fund for repairs and rebuild their homes. The industry paid out an estimated $1.7 billion following the southern Alberta floods of 2013. The total damage was estimated at $5 billion for the June 2013 flooding in Alberta. Mortgage renewals have been turned down after the Alberta flood due to the depreciated values of homes in affected areas and renewal of insurance policies jumped up significantly. In addition, the most expensive events included the Japan earthquake and tsunami, the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake on 11 March 2011 and the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake of a magnitude 6.3 as well as the recent flood in China in 2011, leaving a total of over 36 million people have been affected, killing at least 355 and with direct economic losses. Not to mention, the great floods crisis in Thailand. Thailand’s flood disaster, lasting for 6 months that killed over 800 people and left millions homeless or displaced, with over three quarters of Thailand's provinces were declared flood disaster zones and the World Bank estimated that the economic loss exceeded USD45 billion. Thailand's government was unprepared for the longevity and severity of the floods, and many communities felt that the Flood Response Operation Center, which was established to coordinate emergency response and provide regular communications to the public, was in adequate. These are good example for lessons to be learned in order to ensure future flooding will have minimal impact. The essence is to make improvement to community and stakeholder participation in flood recovery, reconstruction and mitigation efforts as well as to encourage projects that build communities' resilience to large-scale floods. At this conference, we have line up leading Thailand's flood disaster faculty experts from the experienced gained during Thailand’s great flood disaster in 2011, to share experiences and perspective. Looking forward, countries including Canada face more extreme weather condition. Canada’s climate is changing. Seasonal floods in Manitoba and Alberta are threatening high density areas in and around larger metros, and even in rural areas rising water tables in Ontario are forcing native communities to move to higher elevations and leaving behind their hometowns. Countries like Canada have to adapt, or try to adapt, something that is very hard to do when government and populations do not quite know which impact will hit where and when. It is easier, but often more costly, to react than anticipate. Weather experts predicted that further changes are inevitable. On average, warmer temperatures and more rainfall are expected for the country as a whole, with increases in extreme heat and heavy rainfall events, and declines in snow and ice cover. They predict “more frequent heavy precipitation events, with an associated increased risk of flooding.” Municipalities and cities are also aware of their deteriorating and outdated protection system, aging flood prevention systems may not withstand nature’s forces anymore and downtown businesses and residents are threatened by a force that sandbags and plywood walls cannot withstand anymore. As such, we cannot continue to protect multimillion dollar assets with sandbags when new materials and technology of flood protection have shown their true value for private owners and the community as a whole. In response to this urgent need to make an informed decision as of what can be done in today’s uncertain weather patterns as well as the need to respond with the disaster, with various strategies and tactics to mitigate flood situation so as to effectively respond to flooding problem. The emphasis should now be on proactive efforts to reduce risk, based on comprehensive risk assessments and the integration of risk-reduction measures. Against this development, World Natural Disasters (Flood & Earthquake) Prevention Conference 2016 is designed to bring together practitioners and industry players, including engineers, planners, health specialists, disaster managers, decision makers, and policy makers engaged in various aspects of natural disasters prevention, protection and mitigation as well as providing a unique opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences. The conference includes discussion on ‘hot’ topics in today’s earthquake and flood protection with significant discussion on best practices in flood disaster management and lessons to be learned.

For all forward thinking flood prevention and earthquake mitigation solution providers, this is an opportunity to showcase latest innovation at this conference. Limited exhibit booths available on first-come-first served basis. Secure an exhibit booth today!

Lead Exhibitors