PEARL presented at the International Conference on Flood Management in Sao Paulo, September 2014

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The International Conference on Flood Management 6 (ICFM6) was held in Sao Paulo and showcased issues faced in flood management at different scales (national, regional, and local). Giacomo Teruggi from the World Meteorological Organization gave a poster presentation about PEARL’s organization and general activities. You can see photos of the event in our gallery

 

Find further information of the event on its website.

The PEARL approach on holistic flood risk assessment at HIC11 in New York

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PEARL project leader Zoran Vojinovic presents the PEARL approach addressing holistic flood risk assessment in coastal areas at 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC 2014). The PEARL approach draws upon the complexity theory and the use of complex adaptive system (CAS) models as tools to identify root causes of vulnerabilities and their multi-stressors and to analyze risk and the behavior of key actors.

  • Zoran Vojinovic, Yared Abebe, Arlex Sanchez, Neiler Medina, Igor Nikolic, Natasa Manojlovic, Christos Makropoulos, Mark Pelling, Michael Abbott, 2014: “Holistic Flood Risk Assessment in Coastal Areas – The PEARL Approach”, 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, 17-21 August 2014, New York City, USA.
  • Presentation of the paper in Special Session S10-01: Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data and Methods for Flood Resilience in Urban Areas, on 17/Aug/2014: 3:45pm-5:30pm, in Room 374.

Hidromet: A Cloud-Based EWS Platform for Real Time Urban Flood Warning, at HIC11 in New York

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Hydrometeorological Innovative Solutions (HYDS) and AQUALOGY will be presenting at 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC 2014) an Early Warning System for real time urban flood warning based on radar nowcasting techniques. It runs in the cloud a hydraulic/hydrological model with radar, rain gauges and other sensors information, allows configuring warnings over different elements and actions to be triggered when the different warning levels are reached.

  • Álvaro Rodríguez, Xavier Llort, David Sancho, Rafael Sánchez-Diezma (HYDS), Ramón Bella, Vicente Gómez (AQUALOGY), 2014: “Hidromet: A Cloud-Based EWS Platform for Real Time Urban Flood Warning”, 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, 17-21 August 2014, New York City, USA.
  • Presentation of the paper in Session R59: Real-time Control of Flood Events, on 18/Aug/2014: 3:45pm-5:30pm, in Room 201.

How does it relate to PEARL?

As an Early Warning System for real time urban flood warning based on radar nowcasting techniques, Hidromet contributes to work package 4 on Flood Forecasting and Early Warning Systems; particularly to Task 4.3 (“Advanced uncertainty tools and methods for early warning”) and Task 4.5 (“New methodologies, concepts and tools for effective dissemination of early warnings”).

FloodAlert: A Simplified Radar-Based EWS for Urban Flood Warning, at HIC11 in New York

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Hydrometeorological Innovative Solutions (HYDS) will be attending the 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC 2014), August 2014. A simplified urban flood Early Warning System [EWS] based on the use of radar observations and radar nowcasting to issue local flood warnings will be presented.

  • Xavier Llort, Rafael Sánchez-Diezma, Álvaro Rodríguez, David Sancho (HYDS), Marc Berenguer, Daniel Sempere-Torres (CRAHI), 2014: “FloodAlert: A Simplified Radar-Based EWS for Urban Flood Warning”, 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, 17-21 August 2014, New York City, USA.
  • Presentation of the paper in Special Session S1-01: Real-time Monitoring of Urban Water Systems, on 17/Aug/2014: 10:45am-12:30pm, in Room 201.

How does it relate to PEARL?

As a web-based platform and Flood Early Warning System, HYDS’ FloodAlert contributes to work package 4 on Flood Forecasting and Early Warning Systems; particularly to Task 4.3 (“Advanced uncertainty tools and methods for early warning”) and Task 4.5 (“New methodologies, concepts and tools for effective dissemination of early warnings”).

Check the developed application here!

PEARL presented at the Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría (CUJAE) in Havana, Cuba. April, 2014

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In the framework of the EU funded project “EU-Cuba Environment” the PEARL coordinator was invited to present the project at the Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría (CUJAE) in Havana, Cuba.
The presentation was attended by scholars from the CUJAE University in the fields of hydraulics, coastal engineering, flood protection, etc. Undergraduate and MSc students were present as well as other PhD researchers and staff from INSMET (Meteorological Institute of Cuba). Zoran Vojinovic and Arlex Sanchez from UNESCO-IHE presented the aim, structure and main activities of PEARL. During the discussion with key stakeholders in Havana, a great potential for collaboration between PEARL and the institutions dealing with early warning and disaster management in Cuba has been identified.

Further steps between PEARL and Cuba

Special interest has been expressed by Cuban stakeholders towards the improvement of forecast capabilities for nearly real-time warning as well as a combination of hazards resulting from coastal and pluvial floods within the urban areas. For more information, please contact PEARL project leader Dr. Z. Vojinovic.
There was also an interest to share the knowledge and experience in community-based disaster risk management, where the Cuban authorities have been at the forefront in the Caribbean region and wider.

Currently there are discussions to bring Havana as an associated case study area in PEARL.

Old Havana under threat for high winds and waves

Cuba at risk to coastal flooding

Being the major island in the Caribbean, Cuba is often in the path of major tropical storms and hurricanes. The high frequency of exposure to extreme hydro meteorological events of Cuba has produced a strong institutional and educational arrangement to increase resilience in the community and reduce social vulnerabilities to avoid loss of human life and reduce economic damages.
In 2001, nearly 6 million people were affected by extreme hydro-meteorological events in the Caribbean. Particularly, Hurricane Michelle hit the island of Cuba on the 4th of November 2001 and caused enormous material damage and loss of human life (CubaHurricanes.org).

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PEARL presented at the seminar “Flood Damage survey and assessment: new insights from research and practice”, 11-12 April 2014 in Bastia Umbra, Italy

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The activities of PEARL related to flood damage assessment and operational flood management are presented at the seminar on damage assessment. The seminar is organised by the Monitoring and Warning Centre of the Umbria Region (i.e. Centro Funzionale Decentrato, CFD) and by Politecnico di Milano. It is held on 11-12 April 2014 during and thanks to the sponsorship of EXPO Emergenze, the Italian exhibition for emergency and security.

The first objective of the seminar is to analyse which is the state of art one year after EXPO’s first meeting, and to understand whether or not things are improved if priorities and needs have changed. The second objective is to extend the network of people created in the first meeting, increasing the sharing of experience and knowledge among both practitioners and scientists in Italy and worldwide.

  • Seminar flyer “Flood Damage survey and assessment: new insights from research and practice”, Expo Emergenze, 11-12 April 2014 in Bastia Umbra, Italy

PEARL at the European Maritime Day in Bremen, 20 May 2014

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Together with RISC-KIT and ASTARTE, PEARL will organize a workshop titled “Coasts and Ports at Threat” at the European Maritime Day to be held on 20 May 2014 in Bremen, Germany.

This workshop will discuss the objectives and early research results of three projects. The workshop will illustrate the importance of a trans-disciplinary research approach in understanding the differences and similarities of risk assessment and measures at European coasts by combining the expertise of natural, social sciences and the humanities in coastal and maritime research. The workshop will be introduced by the responsible EC Programme Officer, Ms Eleni Manoli and the representatives of the three projects.

PEARL presented at 1st Preparatory Meeting of the 22nd OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum in Vienna, 27 – 28 January 2014

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The OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum is the main annual event in the OSCE’s second dimension. In 2014, under the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, the 22nd Economic and Environmental Forum focused on “Responding to environmental challenges with a view to promoting cooperation and security in the OSCE area”.

The forum is organised as an exchange platform for a number of national and international institutions, NGOs, academia and the business community from the OSCE’s 57 OSCE participating States with the objective to reinforce the role of the OSCE in the promotion of good governance in disaster management. Natasa Manojlovic from TUHH introduced the aims and activities of PEARL in respect to holistic risk governance and stakeholder participation. During the panel forum, the potential of large scale international project such as PEARL to support the implementation of good governance in disaster risk management has been discussed.

  • Manojlovic, N., 2014: Learning and Action Alliances as a Vehicle for Innovation and Active Learning – How to Enhance Community Based (Flood) Risk Management? Proceed. of the 22nd OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, Vienna, 27-28 January 2014