The Department of Water Hazard Research was established in 2001. It is the main-body of the Research Center of Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction, the Ministry of Water Resources of China. Its researches focus on developing theories, methodologies and techniques for flood and drought management.

The Department has 30 staff members in 5 research sections, including 8 professor-level senior engineers, 7 senior engineers, and 9 engineers. There are 12 members having doctoral degree, and 16 having master degree.

Section of Flood Management and Disater Reduction Policy

Laws and planning of flood management
Emergency preparedness for flood and management of risk areas
Management of flood from mountains
Management of flood retention areas
Resource formation of flood and countermeasures of management
Flood risk demarcation, assessment and flood risk mapping
Mechnical standard system of flood control and drought control

Section of Decision Making Support Technology in Flood Control

The decision making support system of flood control
Flood risk mapping
Flood forecasting and dispatching model
3D decision making support system
Ice flood decision making support
Flood control planning
Decision making support platform for urban flood forecasting and pre-warning

Section of Engineering Technology in Flood Control and Disaster Reduction

Fundamental theories of flood control engineering
Planning of river eco-restoration and protection
Safety assessments of flood control projects
Inspection of sudden dangers and defects of flood control projects
Emergency protection technologies in dikes and dams

Section of Drought Management and Countermeasures

Standard of drought disaster and drought control preparedness plan
Risk assessment of drought disaster and insurance of drought disaster
Theory and application of urban drought control management
Policy and strategy of drought control
Information management system of drought control

Section of Water Hazard Emergency Management

Theoretical structure and technical support for water disaster emergency preparedness plan
Flood risk demarcation and theory and method of flood risk assessment
Pre-warning of extreme weather incident and safety protection technique of flood control engineering projects
The function of reservoir projects in water disaster emergency management and assessment
The application of computer and GIS techniques etc. as related to water disaster emergency management