In recent decades, the flash flood has become one of the most destructive natural disasters, and its monitoring, early warning and prevention are gaining global attention. Based on this context, IWHR and Université C?te d’Azur (UCA) jointly initiated the Flash Flood Program (FFP), in a bid to establish a global partnership in flash flood research and provide theoretical and technical support for disaster preparedness and relief.
On October 29, 2020, IWHR and UCA organized the seminar on Flash Flood Risk Management as the official launch of the program. The program aims to identify the Flash Flood Disaster on a worldwide scale by drawing on knowledge of the disaster from different countries and regions in the world.
Experts from China, Canada, and Singapore provided valued discussions and presentations themed on flash flood management. About 800 people watched the seminar via the live-streaming webpage.
In the opening speeches, Prof. Philippe Gourbesville, Vice President of Asia Water Council, expressed confidence in developing the Flash Flood Program with IWHR. He stressed that, flash flood management has become a global issue in recent years when extreme rainfall occurs in many countries with higher frequency.
Dr. PENG Jing, Vice President of IWHR, expressed the willingness to fully support the program through sharing China’s best practices and experience in flash flood prevention. Since 2010, IWHR has been organizing and guiding the National Flash Flood Prevention Project and has provided key technical support during the process. The project, with a total investment of more than 30 billion RMB, has made substantial achievements in flash flood management, including disaster investigation and assessment, monitoring and early warning, community-based preparedness and prevention, risk management, as well as emergency response.
Prof. Van Thanh Van Nguyen from Mc Gill University introduced the characteristics of flash floods in Canada, linking climate change to Impact and Adaptation Studies in urban areas’ recent advances and shortcomings in modeling of extreme rainfall processes.
Prof. LI Changzhi from IWHR presented on “Flash Flood Risk Assessment Based on Flash Flood Prevention Research in China”.
Prof. Shie Yui Liong from National University of Singapore discussed the main challenges of flash flood control in Singapore.
Prof. Sun Dongya from IWHR introduced China’s National Flash Flood Prevention Project and reviewed the development of flash flood research in China.
In the Q & A session, participants raised questions regarding flood prevention and disaster mitigation, risk management, forecasting and early warning, etc. All the panelists agree that there is still a series of urgent issues to be addressed, as the causes and development of flash flood involve multiple disciplines, the concerted efforts of scholars and government leaders from all over the world are much needed.
