Geomatics
for Disaster Risk Reduction

History

NATURAL DISASTERS

Disaster - an unexpected event, such as a very bad accident, a flood or a fire, that kills a lot of people or causes a lot of damage (Oxford Dictionary, 2022.11.27).

By default, disaster usually means that event which is of natural origin.

Based on content from: Gomarasca M.A.: Basics of Geomatics. Springer 2009 and Mosscrop D. et al: The Role of Geomatics in Climate Variability and Change. CfEOS, Dep. Of Geography, Univ. of Manitoba 2001.

Natural disasters, their forecasting and monitoring is the focus of many international organisations. Some of them provide free access to information, e.g. EU COPERNICUS.

At the same time, there is a strong call for scientists, especially in Southeast Asia, to work together to reduce the impact of natural disasters on lives and economies.

NATURAL DISASTERS VS. SOUTHEAST ASIA

Although the number of natural disasters has remained the same worldwide for years, the number of disasters as a result of climatic influences is increasing and, above all, the amount of losses resulting from natural disasters has reached around 50 billion USD in Asia.

According to the World Risk Report 2021 (and 2022), Southeast Asia continues to be one of the world’s leading natural disaster risk hotspots for the next years.

The global community's efforts to prevent natural hazards from turning into disasters are guided by the Sendai document (Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030).

Principles of Action for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 have been adopted (UN, 2015).

The actions are based on four priorities: understanding disaster risk, strengthening disaster risk management to manage disaster risk, investing in disaster risk reduction for resistance, and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response.

Given the facts presented and the medium and long-term projections, especially in Southeast Asia, there is a strong need to build the capacity of current and future generations of scientists in this field.

It requires significant reforms in these countries of the higher education systems, which are responsible for, among other things, technically equipping, supplying young professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to adequately respond to the pressing needs of society.

The Project "Geomatics for Disaster Risk Reduction” is implemented by 10 Partners under the European Commission's ERASMUS+ Program.

The goal of the GeoDRR Project is to start 2-degree studies "Geometics for Disaster Risk Reduction" at 6 Asian universities, as well as to equip and establish research laboratories at these universities to carry out this work.

The Project involves nine universities from Poland, Spain, Greece, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as a consulting firm from Luxembourg.