news'East
& Southeast Asia Regional Seminar
on Flood Hazard Mapping, 2007'
in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia from 2/7-2/9, 2007'East
& Southeast Asia Regional seminar on Flood Hazard Mapping' was organized by
International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management, Public Work Research
Institute (ICHARM/PWRI) in close cooperation with Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) and Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), Malaysia. The event
was held from 7th to 9th February, 2007 in Renaissance Hotel Kula Lumpur. The
main objective of the seminar was to provide the platform for former participants
of Flood Hazard Mapping (FHM) training course to share their knowledge and experience
through interactive participation. Selected participants were professional engineers
from governmental organizations working actively in flood disaster management
in their home countries. The seminar concentrated on the issues
of flood hazard mapping and its field application as a tool for disaster preparedness
and mitigation. All together 25 participants including 8 local participants those
selected by DID, Malaysia have taken extensive benefits from the seminar, sharing
theoretical and practical knowledge and achieving hands-on experience with field
visits in one of the flood affected areas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Presentations
from participants covered range of aspects such as case study, work progress,
current issues, future challenges etc. In addition, invited lecturers from selected
international organizations gave insights on latest technology and methodology
for the development of flood hazard map. Among them, Dr. Manzul Hazalika from
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) gave the presentation on "Capacity building
in applications of Geoinformatics in flood hazard mapping" and Dr. Arun B.
Shrestha from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
described the flood hazard assessment methodology under the title "Flash
floods in the Himalayas and vulnerability analysis".
The seminar was inaugurated by the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment,
Y.B. Dato' S. Sothinathan. Several high ranking officials from different governmental
organizations of Malaysia were also present in the opening ceremony. In the occasion,
the deputy minister and the Director General of DID, Y. Bhg. Dato' Paduka Ir.
Hj. Keizrul bin Abdullah, expressed their interest to cooperate with ICHARM for
long term cooperation in the field of water induced disaster management in Malaysia,
of which southern part especially Johor state was seriously affected by the flood
in December 2006 and January 2007. Mr. Terakawa, the acting director of the ICHARM
expressed his appreciation to all participants and thanks to co-organizers for
their supports to make the event successful and effective. The event including
the commitments made by deputy minister was highlighted in most daily newspapers
and other communication media in Malaysia. _Similar
kind of workshop will be organized by ICHARM in 2008 with representatives from
several international organizations and research institutes from around the world. >Seminar
Program and Presentation Materials 
at
the Seminar
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