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World disasters debated in North East

World specialists on a wide range of disaster management issues are arriving in Newcastle this week (5-6 September) for a major international conference.

Dealing with Disasters 2007, Resilience, Response and Investigation, brings together academics, policy makers and practitioners to debate some of the latest research in disaster management and look at how theory and practice can be integrated to enable the world to be better prepared to deal with and avoid future disasters. The conference is being hosted by Northumbria University in Newcastle in partnership with the University of Teesside and the University of Glamorgan.

Dr Andrew Collins, Director of the Disaster and Development Centre (DDC) at Northumbria says: “This is our second annual conference in the current series and builds on some of the major international strategic alliances we have been engaged with, for some years through projects in South Asia, Southern Africa and Japan.”

Speeches at the conference will come from Kyoto’s Chief Fire Officer, Mozambique’s National Director of Disaster Reduction, two Government Secretaries from Nepal and Heads of some of disaster institutions in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The conference will enable specialists to share insights into the significant progress that has been made in recent decades in dealing with a range of disasters including earthquakes in Japan and Tsunamis, but also less publicised aspects of human vulnerability to disaster.

Dr Collins said: “Whilst we are often reasonably aware of how disasters impact on a region’s environments, society and the economy, we are now pushing ahead with better understanding how resilience, effective recovery and good research can leave us better protected in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .