The IFIP Domain Committee on Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction (DCITDRR) has boosted its international profile, presenting at two international disaster risk reduction events during March.
Professor Dimiter Velev (secretary) and Associate Professor Plamena Zlateva (vice-chair) represented IFIP’s newest Domain Committee at conferences in Japan and Turkey, sharing information and raising awareness of IFIP’s work in this critical area.
Dr Velev and Dr Zlateva first attended the Third Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction: Expanding the Platform for Bridging Science and Policy Making (GSRIDRR 2017) at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan from 19 to 21 March 2017.
This event was organized under the auspices of the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI), http://gadri.net/summit/, which comprises 145 world institutes and organisations dedicated to disaster risk reduction.
The conference provided an opportunity for all involved in disaster risk reduction activities, disaster research and related fields to come together, share knowledge and research work. It also afforded a chance for stakeholders from research institutes, international bodies, governments and businesses engaged in disaster risk reduction to share their visions and directions for implementation in the real world. More than 250 participants from different countries and institutes attended the event.
Dr Velev and Dr Zlateva presented IFIP’s commitment to identifying ways that technology can support risk reduction and disaster recovery strategies, introducing the DCITDRR and discussing its priorities and initiatives. They also discussed how combining recent advances in Social Media, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Cloud Computing can help in implementing viable solutions to help fight disasters.
After leaving Japan, the IFIP team flew to Turkey to attend the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (2017 EFDRR Open Forum) from 26-28 March, http://efdrrturkey.org/.
More than 200 attendees from Europe and around the world took part in this event, which included three pre-events, six technical and two special sessions. Issues discussed ranged from economic risk management in disaster risk deduction, critical infrastructures for resilient communities and the establishment of risk assessment and disaster loss databases to bridging disaster risk reduction and climate change for a sustainable future, migration, along with strategies for achieving the Sendai Target on risk-informed national and local DRR strategies by 2020.
The Sendai Framework recognises that the Global and Regional Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) have a key role in its implementation. The Sendai Framework also emphasises the need for Global and Regional Platforms to function as a coherent system of mechanisms to fully leverage the potential of collaboration and knowledge sharing across organisations of all sectors.
At EFDRR, Dr Velev and Dr Zlateva also took part in the pre-event, “Science and Technology to Support Disaster Risk Reduction”, where they again showcased the IFIP DCITDRR’s structure, goals and initiatives.
They also took the opportunity to invite attendees at both events to take part in the upcoming 2nd IFIP Conference on Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction (ITDRR-2017), http://itdrr.unwe.bg/, which will take a more global perspective and is expected to attract participants from around the world.
Professor Dimiter Velev and Associate Professor Plamena Zlateva at the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction
